{jcomments on}[Thabo Mbeki says agreement has been reached between northern and southern Sudan to withdraw all troops from the disputed region of Abyei and for peacekeepers from Ethiopia to be deployed]

 

 

BURUNDI :

Une conférence africaine sur la lutte contre la corruption

Pana /21/06/2011

Afrique centrale – Burundi .Bujumbura, Burundi – Le président du Burundi, Pierre Nkurunziza, a ouvert lundi à Bujumbura une conférence africaine de deux jours sur la lutte contre la corruption, invitant les Africains à tirer les leçons de leurs échecs afin de peaufiner leurs stratégies pour vaincre ce fléau. La rencontre regroupe les responsables d’organisations et instances de lutte contre la corruption provenant de 38 pays africains.

La conférence sera marquée par le lancement de l’Association africaine de lutte contre la corruption.

RWANDA :

RDC CONGO :

Tête-à-tête Kabila-Zuma ce mardi à Lubumbashi

Angelo Mobateli/(LP/MCN, via mediacongo.net)/ 21/06/2011

Le Président de la République démocratique du Congo, Joseph Kabila Kabnge, est arrivé, hier lundi 20 Juin à 15 heures 30’ à Lubumbashi.Où est attendu ce mardi 21 juin son collègue sud-africain, Jacob Zuma, pour le sommet clôturant à l’hôtel Karavia les travaux de la 7ème session de la grande commission RDC-RSA.

Les deux chefs d’Etat vont examiner les résolutions apprêtées, hier lundi, par le conseil des ministres qui a passé en revue le rapport issu des travaux des experts congolais et sud-africains réunis du 16 au 17 juin 2011 dans la capitale cuprifère du Katanga.

Ces travaux se sont déroulés en quatre commissions : politique, diplomatique et gouvernance ; économie, finances et infrastructures ; socioculturelle et affaires humanitaires ; défense et sécurité.

C’est le ministre de la Coopération internationale et régionale, Raymond Tshibanda, qui conduit la délégation gouvernementale comprenant ses collègues de la Défense, l’Energie, des Affaires étrangères, de l’Agriculture, des Finances, de la Fonction publique, du Portefeuille et le vice-ministre des Affaires étrangères.

La délégation sud-africaine est conduite par le ministre des Affaires étrangères, Mme Okoana Mashabana.

La sixième grande commission mixte RDC-RSA s’est tenue en octobre 2009 à Pretoria, en Afrique du Sud.

Kinshasa,

UGANDA :

Col. Muzoora could have died in Uganda

Monday, 20th June, 2011 /By Fred Turyakira/ www.newvision.co.ug

SECURITY is investigating reports that the late Col. Edson Muzoora could have sneaked into the country and stayed at the residence of a Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) official before he died.

Earlier reports indicated that Muzoora, who was on the army’s wanted list for suspected links with the People’s Redemption Army rebels, could have been murdered outside the country and his body sneaked into the country

Two more people have been arrested to help the Police with the investigations into Muzoora’s death.

The south-western regional Police spokesperson, Polly Namaye, confirmed the arrest of a truck driver and a school nurse over the weekend, bringing the number of suspects to four.

She identified the suspects as Obed Musinguzi alias Ssebagala, a truck driver from Kyabugimbi in Bushenyi and Grace Twinomujuni, a nurse at Valley College Bushenyi.

Namaye said Ssebagala was arrested by the Police at Kyabugimbi trading centre on Friday morning, while Twinomujuni was arrested on Sunday evening on allegations of obstructing the Police in their investigations.

“Twinomujuni obstructed the Police while carrying out investigations at her home in Bushenyi following the arrest of her boss, William Mukaira, the director of Valley College. We have the capacity to arrest anyone who tries to obstruct our investigations,” she added.

Others arrested earlier are William Mukaira, the FDC chairman for Bushenyi district and Dr. Aggrey Byamukama, a pharmacist and a businessman from Mbarara.

Muzoora’s wife, Vastine, was also arrested and interrogated by military intelligence officers, but was later set free.

It is alleged that during Muzoora’s burial, his wife expressed concern about his death and said she had been communicating with him.

Muzoora’s wife said her mobile phone had been stolen during the funeral.

Muzoora allegedly fell out with the UPDF and joined People’s Redemption Army rebel group which was allegedly formed by renegade Lt. Col. Samson Mande, Lt. Col. Anthony Kyakabale after 2001 general elections.

Earlier this month, Police chief Kale Kayihura said Uganda would seek the intervention of the International Police (Interpol) to establish circumstances under which Muzoora died.

Kayihura, who was speaking during a meeting of East African Community Police Criminal Investigation Division chiefs in Kampala, said Muzoora’s death was “certainly murder”.

The Police also formed a probe committee, which is led by CID deputy director Geoffrey Musana and includes Interpol deputy director David Magara.

UPDATE 1-Bank of Uganda steps in as shilling slides

Tue Jun 21, 2011 10/ Reuters

KAMPALA, June 21 (Reuters) – The Bank of Uganda stepped into the foreign exchange market by selling dollars on Tuesday after the shilling fell to a record low against the greenback for the fifth session in a row.

“There is still a lot of demand for dollars and that has been putting the currency under serious pressure,” said Faisal Bukenya, head of market making at Barclays Bank Uganda.

Traders said the country’s oil sector was driving the demand for dollars while hard currency inflows were weak.

The currency began to depreciate last Wednesday when central bank governor Emmanuel Tumusiime-Mutebile criticised the economic policies of President Yoweri Museveni in an interview with a British newspaper.

Tumusiime-Mutebile then promised to tame currency speculators using the country’s foreign reserves, although a central bank sale of $20 million last week did little to stop the shilling’s fall.

The shilling slumped to 2,508 earlier on Tuesday and then rallied sharply to 2,378 after the central bank intervention started. By 0950 GMT, however, it had returned to 2,462. (Reporting by Barry Malone; Editing by David Clarke)

SOUTH AFRICA:

Michelle Obama makes official visit to South Africa

By Katherine Skiba /www.latimes.com/June 21, 2011

The first lady is to meet with Archbishop Desmond Tutu and speak to young people from impoverished neighborhoods.

Reporting from Johannesburg, South Africa— First Lady Michelle Obama arrived in South Africa on Monday night as she launched an official visit that will see her embrace this nation’s elders as she tries to inspire its young.

Obama, who is spending the week in South Africa and neighboring Botswana, will give a keynote speech to young African female leaders Wednesday in Johannesburg.

She is scheduled to meet with Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu, 79, but no meeting is currently scheduled with Nelson Mandela, 92, the country’s first black president. She also is scheduled to visit Robben Island, where Mandela was held for the majority of the 27 years he was in detention for fighting apartheid.

The first lady also aims to inspire South African youth, some too young to remember when segregation was inscribed into law and police used tear gas, dogs and bullets against those who fought to undo it.

She is scheduled to speak Thursday to young people from impoverished neighborhoods during an “immersion day” at the University of Cape Town. Her trip also will spotlight the continuing devastation that AIDS has wrought in Africa.

Africa is Obama’s second official overseas trip without the president, coming after a trip she made in April 2010 to Haiti and Mexico.

She was met by U.S. Ambassador Donald Gips and South African dignitaries at a military air base in Pretoria. Traveling with her are her mother, Marian Robinson; daughters Malia, 12, and Sasha, 10; nephew Avery Robinson, 19; and niece Leslie Robinson, 15, both of Corvallis, Ore. They are the children of her brother, Craig Robinson.

It’s Michelle Obama’s fourth trip to Africa after a 2009 trip to Ghana with the president; a 2006 trip with then-U.S. Sen. Obama to Kenya, where his father was born; and an earlier trip to Kenya before the Obamas married.

kskiba@tribune.com

Malema: What happens now?

Ryan Coetzee / www.politicsweb.co.za/21 June 2011

Ryan Coetzee says the ANC can’t be relied upon to save us from itself

A friend messaged me on Monday with, “What happens now?” I didn’t need to ask what she meant. More or less everyone with an interest in South Africa’s future is trying to make sense of what happened at the recent ANC Youth League conference from which its leader, Julius Malema, emerged a very powerful man with a very dangerous agenda.

Malema is powerful for three reasons. First, he has the demagogue’s ability to stoke smoldering resentment into flame. Second, he has a tyrant’s implacability, confident in the knowledge that his opponents don’t have his stomach for a fight and, sooner or later, will sue for peace on his terms. Third, and most importantly, he is likely to have a large enough bloc of votes on the floor of the ANC’s elective conference in Manguang next December to significantly influence, or even control, its outcome.

His agenda is dangerous because it is ruinous. He seeks to nationalise mines and banks, expropriate land without compensation and, in his fantastical scheme of things, transfer the ‘illicit’ wealth of white South Africa into the hands of an impoverished black underclass, doubtless earning himself and his cronies a brokerage fee along the way (Ranger Rovers don’t come cheap).

Of course as history everywhere shows, the actual outcome of such an agenda would be the further impoverishment of the poor; a kleptocracy run by a thuggish elite increasingly detached from reality. The better-off, as always, would simply leave.

So, what is to be done?

It is essential to grasp that Malema is a product both of the ANC’s failure since 1994 to achieve an environment for rapid economic and job growth and of its lamentable success since Mafikeng in 1997 at leveraging South Africa’s legacy of racial division in the cause of what it calls transformation, a term that refers in theory to the noble aim of empowering those oppressed by apartheid but in practice is a kind of legalized looting of the state and, with its anxious acquiescence, of business by a politically connected elite.

The only force inside the ANC that seems capable of resisting the Youth League is Cosatu and the SACP. This is all very well as far as it goes, but it doesn’t go very far because whatever else is commendable about the left, its economic prescriptions don’t offer South Africa a credible path to shared prosperity.

But all this speculation about the future is increasingly pointless. Even if Malema and his agenda don’t win outright at Mangaung, the outcome can at best only be a messy compromise. Whatever happens, the ANC will remain rent by competing factions while its governments will stumble on, hamstrung by incoherence, corruption and incapacity.

From this it follows that the ANC cannot save South Africa from the ANC. It is time to give up the romantic notion that an internal “voice of reason” will triumph in the end; that the non-racialism of the UDF will somehow become the ANC’s; that past performance, as they say in the fund management industry, is any guarantee of future returns. The reform-from-the-inside approach never works.

But the good news is that, somewhat ironically, Malema’s racial populism will split the ANC’s base, which is now almost exclusively black, and so create the space for a new force in South African politics that transcends the divisions of the past.

This requires some exposition. Until 2009, the ANC managed to hold onto most of its core support for three reasons: it was strongly associated with liberation; it was believed to have made progress towards a better life, despite unhappiness with aspects of its performance; and it lacked an opposition that could offer black South Africans a comfortable alternative political home.

All of this began to change in 2009, and the outcome of the 2011 elections confirmed the trend. A victory at Mangaung in 2012 for naked racism coupled with a populist policy agenda detached from supporting evidence or rational argument will simply drive away a further section of the ANC’s support base. Once its potential gains in KZN reach their ceiling, the ANC’s support levels can only go down.

And so instead of waiting for the ANC is save us from the ANC, we can save ourselves by building an alternative founded on three pillars: constitutionalism, non-racialism and a market-centred economic policy that delivers on the aspirations of the poor.

Given the unfolding situation in the ANC, the DA has a lot to offer those seeking such an alternative. We are not perfect, but we are authentically committed to constitutionalism, non-racialism and an economic agenda that delivers both opportunity and social justice.

We also have 24% of the vote, a credible growth trajectory, an increasingly diverse support base, a province, a city, a nation-wide organisation, access to funding and internal discipline. As starts go, one could do worse.

But the time for hoping and talking and analysing is drawing to a close. It is time now to act. All those who share a belief that South Africa can still make good on the promise of 1994 need to find each other, and fast. Otherwise we will look back at this period with regret and have only ourselves to blame.

Ryan Coetzee is a strategist for the Democratic Alliance. This article was published with the assistance of the Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung für die Freiheit.

South African Consumer Spending Rises in First Quarter as Economy Recovers

By Gordon Bell / www.bloomberg.com/Jun 21, 2011

South African consumer spending, which accounts for two-thirds of demand in the country, and investment rose in the first quarter, reinforcing the recovery in Africa’s biggest economy.

Household spending increased an annualized 5.2 percent, compared with 4.8 percent in the previous three months, the Pretoria-based Reserve Bank said in its Quarterly Bulletin today. Growth in gross domestic expenditure accelerated to an annualized 8.3 percent from 2.4 percent as government spending surged and companies built up inventories, it said.

“The brisk consumption expenditure mirrored a further increase in real disposable income as property income and compensation of employees trended higher,” the central bank said. Government spending growth of 9.5 percent was driven by the purchase of military planes, it said.

Domestic spending had been slower to recover from a recession in 2009 than manufacturing as job losses mounted and household debt remained near record levels. The economy’s 4.8 percent annualized growth in the first quarter was driven by a 14.5 percent surge in manufacturing. Retail sales advanced 9.8 percent in April, while the consumer confidence index rose to 11 in the second quarter from 9 in the first.

Interest Rates

A recovery in spending may prompt the Reserve Bank to raise its benchmark rate from a 30-year low of 5.5 percent as inflation begins to pick up. The central bank has forecast inflation, which was 4.2 percent in April, will breach the 3 percent to 6 percent target in the first quarter of next year as international food and fuel costs and domestic energy prices climb.

“Obviously the central bank can no longer say domestic demand is weak,” said Michael Kafe, an economist at Morgan Stanley in Johannesburg. “Real wage payments in South Africa have gone up in the last two years so it is not surprising that spending has held up. On the whole, these are very solid growth rates.”

Disposable income grew 5.4 percent in the first quarter compared with 5 percent in the previous three months, the central bank said. Spending on durable goods, such as cars, jumped 21.5 percent.

While crude oil fell to its lowest in four months in New York yesterday, it has gained about 10 percent over the past year. South Africa’s power utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. may raise electricity tariffs 25.8 percent for the year through March 2012, according to the country’s energy regulator.

Rand Strength

A 39 percent gain in the rand against the dollar since the end of 2008 helped contain the pass-through to domestic prices, the central bank said. The rand strengthened 0.3 percent to 6.7632 against the dollar as of 10:40 a.m. in Johannesburg.

Rising wages are also adding to pressure on inflation, although the pace of increase in pay has moderated compared with previous years, the central bank said. Wage settlements averaged 8.2 percent in the first quarter, the bank said, citing data from Andrew Levy Employment Publications.

Household debt eased to 76.8 percent of disposable income in the first quarter from 77.6 percent in the previous three months.

Gross fixed capital formation, including state-owned companies and the government, increased 3.1 percent, up from 1.5 percent in the three months through December, the Reserve Bank said.

South Africa Economic Growth Curbed by Jobs, Not Rand, Bank Economist Says

By Franz Wild – /www.bloomberg.com/ Jun 21, 2011

South Africa’s economic growth is being held back by insufficient infrastructure and a one-in-four jobless rate rather than a strong rand, said Monde Mnyande, the central bank’s chief economist.

“Infrastructural and capacity constraints coupled with persistent high levels of unemployment continue to limit the growth potential of our country,” Mnyande said in a presentation in Johannesburg today.

The argument made by labor unions that the currency of Africa’s biggest economy is too strong and is making exports uncompetitive “doesn’t really tally” with its highest growth rate since the since the end of a recession in 2009, Mnyande said. “We’d like the rand to be in balance, which I don’t know where it should be, honestly,” he said.

South Africa’s gross domestic product grew 4.8 percent in the first quarter, equaling its fastest pace since the recession ended in the third quarter of 2009. The rand has strengthened 39 percent against the dollar since the end of 2008.

South African coal and iron-ore exports have been limited by a lack of transport capacity. A shortfall in electricity supply prompted Rio Tinto Group to scrap an aluminum-smelter project in 2009 and BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP), the world’s largest mining company, to partially close its Bayside aluminum smelter in 2008.

Inflation Causes

While the South African Reserve Bank predicts that inflation will breach its 3 percent to 6 percent target range in the first quarter of 2012, it has kept its key interest rate at 5.5 percent this year. Rising prices are caused by global oil and food prices rather than local demand, it argues.

The rand gained 0.3 percent to 6.7602 against the dollar at 9:56 a.m. in Johannesburg trading.

Continued growth will depend on the central bank curbing price increases domestically, Mnyande said.

“It is mostly agreed that stable monetary policy and subsequent price and financial stability achieved through inflation-targeting are prerequisites for sustained long-running economic growth with less cyclical volatility,” he said.

South Africa’s Economy Added 47,000 Non-Farm Jobs in Quarter, Agency Says

By Mike Cohen – /www.bloomberg.com/ Jun 21, 2011

South Africa, which has the highest unemployment rate of 61 countries tracked by Bloomberg, added 47,000 non-farm jobs in the first quarter, as growth in Africa’s largest economy gathered pace.

Employment in formal, non-agricultural industries increased 0.6 percent to 8.298 million from the final three months of last year, when it expanded 1.2 percent, the Pretoria-based Statistics South Africa said on its website today. The data was based on a survey of companies that are registered to pay tax.

“The South African labor market is beginning to gain momentum,” Shireen Darmalingam, an economist at Standard Bank Group Ltd., Africa’s biggest lender, said in a note to clients. “This bodes well for economic growth in the coming quarters. We could start seeing the unemployment rate improve as the year unfolds.”

The economy grew at its fastest pace in a year in the first quarter, expanding 4.8 percent, spurred by the lowest interest rates in three decades. The National Treasury estimates a 7 percent annual growth rate is needed over the next decade to meet the government’s goal of creating 5 million jobs and slashing unemployment to 15 percent by 2020.

“The jobs goal is extremely ambitious and likely unrealistic,” Moody’s Investors Service said in a June 17 report. “Without faster and sustained growth, the general situation will deteriorate once again as employment will fail to keep pace with the growth in the labor force.”

Financial Crisis

South African companies cut their workforces after the global financial crisis hit, lifting the jobless rate to a peak of 25.3 percent in the third quarter of last year. The rate stood at 25 percent in the first quarter of 2011, when the number of people with jobs fell by 14,000 to 13.1 million according to a separate quarterly Labor Force Survey, released on May 5, which includes informal businesses.

“The economy continues to recover from the global economic recession, which made us lose over a million jobs,” President Jacob Zuma said in a June 14 address to lawmakers in Cape Town. “We are particularly pleased with the growth in formal employment, which provides better opportunities for most working people.”

Workers in formal employment on average earned an estimated 12,244 rand ($1,810) a month before tax and other deductions in the first quarter, 9.3 percent more than in the same period a year ago, the statistics agency said.

Deloitte sells tax software business to Thomson Reuters

Issued by: Magna Carta /pressoffice.mg.co.za/ 21 June 2011

[Johannesburg,] –

Deloitte South Africa has had a proud tradition of over 10 years of developing tax software and assisting businesses in implementation of the class-leading tax software. Deloitte South Africa has sold this business to Thomson Reuters with immediate effect.

Nazrien Kader, Service line leader of Taxation Services at Deloitte, states: “This sale is in line with Deloitte’s global tax technology strategy of offering clients world-leading tax technology implementation and advisory services while remaining independent.”

Duane Newman, Deloitte partner responsible for the tax technology business, states: “We are pleased to announce this sale to a global player such as Thomson Reuters. The class-leading tax software products to be sold include CorpSmart, ContractorSmart and Vatrax.”

The Tax & Accounting business of Thomson Reuters specialises in tax software and its objective is to accelerate the further development of tax solutions in the African market. The Deloitte growth strategy is to advise companies on the implementation of tax technology resources in the South African market and to accelerate development and adoption of the software into the rest of Africa.

Deloitte will work with Thomson Reuters in rolling out the current suite of products and other leading Thomson Reuters tax solutions such as ONESOURCE.

Deloitte already works with Thomson Reuters on a global scale – delivering clients strong cutting-edge technology that streamlines the compliance process.

Duane Newman adds: “We at Deloitte firmly believe that this sale will have a positive impact on our current clients of the Deloitte Tax Technology Business.”

Deloitte

Deloitte refers to one or more of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, a UK private company limited by guarantee, and its network of member firms, each of which is a legally separate and independent entity. Please see www.deloitte.com/about for a detailed description of the legal structure of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu and its member firms.

Deloitte provides audit, tax, consulting, and financial advisory services to public and private clients spanning multiple industries. With a globally connected network of member firms in more than 150 countries, Deloitte brings world-class capabilities and deep local expertise to help clients succeed wherever they operate. Deloitte’s approximately 170 000 professionals are committed to becoming the standard of excellence.

South Africa marks World Refugee Day

English.news.cn / Xinhua/ 2011-06-21

By Melody Brandon

JOHANNESBURG, June 20 (Xinhua) — It is just another day for Victoria Manjenga, as she gets ready for another Monday morning of working as a cleaner. But the difference between Victoria and other workers braving the traffic on the busy streets of Johannesburg is the fact that South Africa has offered her safety, an income and the ability to look after her family, who are still in Zimbabwe.

“World refugee day is very important to me and many other foreigners who have come for asylum in South Africa. In our home countries, life was very difficult and we struggled. Here there is hope for us,” she explains.

Manjenga come to South Africa two years ago from Zimbabwe, fortunately she had a cousin already working in the country, so she was able to have a place to stay.

“It can be very difficult if you come here and you do not know anyone, I studied primary school teaching in Zimbabwe. Now I have to clean to earn a living, but I do not mind,” she said.

Just over a month ago, Manjenga received her legal permit to work in South Africa. “I do not want to clean for the rest of my life. I want to start my own business transporting goods between South Africa and Zimbabwe. I think there is a market for that and I would be able to make a lot of money,” she smiles.

According to the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), Manjenga’s story is one of thousands of refugees in the country.

The organization in a statement on Monday said that World Refugee Day was an opportunity for the South African government, as well as other governments across the world, to re-affirm the values upon which international agreements of refugee protection are based.

Like Manjenga, the organization believes that South Africa is seen by many, particularly by those who are less fortunate and who have been forced to flee their countries of origin due to conflict, civil strife, poor governance and general human rights violation, as a “shining beacon of hope, representing their dreams and aspirations of a better future.”

While there were incidents of xenophobia in South Africa in 2008, when foreign shop owners were targeted, the South African government has implemented systems that will allow for foreign shop owners, business and workers to legally work and live in the country.

It is for this reason that the SAHRC are calling for the South African government to engage on the issues around refugees.

“It is not unique to South Africa that many refugees face challenges when they flee to another county,” SAHRC spokesman Vincent Moaga told Xinhua News Agency in a telephonic interview.

He added that in the context of South Africa, the challenges that refugees face often involves access to necessary documentation; in addition, refugees are also subject to particular hardships such as family separation, exploitation, violence and generalized discrimination.

“They continue to bear the brunt of increasing intolerance, which has resulted in destruction of property and loss of lives as seen in the recent past in areas of the Eastern Cape, for example. These issues are of serious concern to the Commission as they are contrary to the spirit of our Constitution that guarantees rights to all persons,” Moaga said.

While there had been no special celebrations planned for the day, Moaga said that the Commission was focusing on the promotion and protection of refugee rights.

This included community outreach work, educational initiatives and providing redress where there have been human rights violations amongst others.

Meanwhile, South African Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Minister Fatima Chohan said the proposed amendments to the Refugee and Immigration Acts would assist refugees coming into the country.

At the same time, the amendments would also make it more difficult for those who tried to abuse the asylum seeker processes or the country’s immigration laws.

Chohan noted that South Africa has been a receiving country for refugees from the region, the continent and as far away as Bangladesh and Pakistan.

“As a developing middle income country, South Africa now has more asylum seekers to deal with than all 27 countries of the European Union combined,” Chohan told the media in Soweto on Sunday.

The cabinet also called on South Africans to contribute to the social and economic security of Africa citizens and reiterated that the country’s Constitution provides for the rights of all people living in the country.

Editor: Chen Zhi

South Africa: The Diagnosis of Patient South Africa

Mohamed Motala/ The South African Civil Society Information Service (Johannesburg) / allafrica.com/20 June 2011

opinion

The National Planning Commission’s “Diagnostic Overview” report is a welcome policy discussion-document that has been needed for a long time in South Africa. It deserves praise for putting forward some important policy considerations that warrant closer examination. The diagnostic report is an important milestone in that it opens up the “big questions” about our post-apartheid democracy in a coherent and complete manner.

For too long now there has been resistance and complacency within government to open up a discussion about our overarching macro public policy architecture. Since the adoption of our constitution – for too long – our democracy has not been questioned about its inability to deliver justice to the majority. The public has had to contend with incoherent and conflicting public utterances by highly placed politicians, having to make sense of whether these are genuine policy debates or just political jostling. The nationalisation debate is a case in point.

The planning commission was mandated to set up key targets for South Africa by 2030. One of its first reports is this “Diagnostic Overview” that determines the “diseases” of South Africa, based on the “symptoms” that patient South Africa presents. This is what the standard definition of a diagnosis is.

But upon reading the report, one gets the feeling that it is hampered by the tools used for diagnosis, as they tend to remain somewhat superficial.

Just like when a sick patient is examined without the proper tools, simple visual scanning misses what lies deeper within and that can only be seen by an x-ray machine, for example. This results in the diagnosis not really getting to the root of the cancer hiding in the bones of the patient.

Similarly, the diagnostic report is commended for using history and context to understand South Africa’s problems, just as the family history of the patient is the first diagnostic assessment tool used, but structure is not so well illuminated in this report’s set of tools. Thus, the “symptoms ” require some grounding in what has given rise to them.

To understand exactly what the disease presents requires delving a little deeper into the underlying structural problems in society and the economy. In the diagnostic report, colonial apartheid history is well documented as the villain of poverty, unemployment, inequality and racism. But, the economic system that drove and deepened all of this, is shied away from in exposing the real malaise affecting patient South Africa.

The report sets out the context as the energy transitions, food security, climate change and new technologies; all of which is true and relevant, but the structural forces that shape these contexts are less expanded upon. The disease lies deeper and structural theory provides a useful diagnostic tool as it completes the picture by explaining what explaining what shapes society shapes society as a whole as well as the classes within.

Structural theory does not rely on explaining the explaining the behaviour of individuals only butonly, but sees the whole picture in all its complexity including the relationships between different parts. Using this diagnostic tool, it becomes clear that wealth and poverty go together and trying to understand poverty in the absence of understanding wealth is not helpful.

Nine symptoms are used to call attention to widespread poverty and unemployment – which none can dispute – but the report falls short in that it is silent about extreme wealth and the nature of employment where, for example, white men continue to occupy the best paid jobs and “white unemployment,” according to the latest figures from Statistics South Africa, hovers around 6%. Not putting such facts under the microscope, doesn’t allow for a full diagnosis to be made.

Inequality is diagnosed, but is presented as add on and not central to the diagnosis, as poverty and unemployment are elevated as the prime symptoms. Thus, the report doesn’t follow through with unveiling wealth and its concentration as the monster lurking behind poverty. Everywhere poverty and unemployment are to be found, the opposite, wealth and its concentration are usually close by.

Take spatial inequality and spatial challenges, which the report diagnoses as an example of what is wrong with South Africa. Today Bantustans and urban peripheries continue to exist. They are usually comprised of poorly functioning rural provincial authorities and failing municipalities. These locations are full of unemployed poor black people. Looking at them in isolation will not provide the answer as to why they stubbornly persists because their existence is not a function of what lies within the Bantustans and poor urban peripheries. You have to also consider extreme wealth and concentrations thereof in the more industrialised provinces and northern suburbs of the metros and see this as part of the problem too.

I am not arguing that there’s something wrong with being employed and enjoying a comfortable life. But understanding poverty and unemployment requires understanding extreme wealth and how it comes about. It is only when wealth is diagnosed as the problem that the solution will start using wealth and the wealthy to heal ailing South Africa.

Thus, applying a diagnostic tool that elevates justice, and understanding inequality as part of the symptoms of injustice, leads to a much better diagnosis.

Similar to its failure to recognise spatial justice and only identify spatial inequality, the report looks at education and healthcare in the context of the failure of the public education and healthcare systems, but does not go further by examining the expansion of private healthcare and education.

Does it mean that if rich people can afford exorbitant school fees and private hospitals (whose services and ethos are also dubious), that this is not part of the diagnosis? When inequality is defined as a problem associated with poverty and not wealth, then the solutions are also about fixing poverty without addressing the problems of wealth.

So bringing all those that rely on private schooling and private healthcare into the diagnosis reveals not only why they opt for those solutions, but also channels their monitoring, evaluation, management and lobbying skills to deliver a better service for all. Not only do they bring important skills, but their self-interest also gets translated into society’s interests when the rich and poor are part of one health and education system.

If you identify the problem correctly then it makes finding a solution easier.

In the diagnosis, a rights-based approach continues to manifest itself in the way in which problems are identified. Assuring the rights of both the rich and the poor only results in the rich having their rights assured in an unequal society such as ours. The poor are too busy struggling to survive and trying to avoid being criminalised. They are trying to live and work in places that are occupied by those more fortunate whilst aspiring to and trying to catch up with the rich who are presented all around as the faces of success.

The NPC sets out a vision for consultation and wishes to consult on the diagnostic report. This is good. However, the parameters for consultation should not be restricted; rather they should be guided by the issues that have been raised. Yes, they do revive all the usual suspects, but if we want to move beyond the usual, then lets dig a bit deeper.

The report identifies corruption and maladministration in the public service as a problem, but if the drivers of our development model are “profit taking” and the systems relied upon are “businesslike,” then fixing unequal growth will not happen by managing things better. You have to unearth the drivers of the problem, which in this case is “how to get rich quick” by growing an unequal economy, whereas a proper diagnosis would consider justice and reducing inequality as the most serious symptom we present.

 

Motala is executive director of the Community Agency for Social Enquiry.

Michelle Obama meets Nelson Mandela in South Africa

Tue Jun 21, 2011/ Reuters

JOHANNESBURG |

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – First Lady Michelle Obama paid a visit to Nelson Mandela on Tuesday on the first day of her visit to Africa, the Nelson Mandela Foundation and the White House said.

Obama, accompanied by her mother and two daughters, visited the 92-year-old former president and anti-apartheid leader, at his home in Johannesburg’s Houghton suburb. The Foundation described it as a courtesy call.

She earlier visited the foundation offices, viewing a display of archival items including Mandela’s prison desk calendars and notebooks.

The foundation quoted Obama as saying after viewing the display: “You are doing very important work.”

The U.S. first lady arrived in South Africa late on Monday and earlier met Nompumelelo Zuma, one of President Jacob Zuma’s wives, in the capital Pretoria.

Refugees in South Africa willing to make contributions

English.news.cn / Xinhua/ 2011-06-21

By Ntandoyenkosi Ncube

JOHANNESBURG, June 21 (Xinhua) — “Refugee day is important but it reminds me of my past pains and memories”, these are the words of Burundian nurse who narrowly escaped death when her house in Bujumbura was set ablaze by rebels.

“That day my house was burnt, I only managed to run away with my nursing certificate. I saw people killed by guns, some stubbed by knives,” Jacqueline Milambo granted refugee status in South Africa eight years ago said Monday as Pretoria joined the world to observe World Refugee Day.

The World Refugee Day honors the courage and determination of those who are forced to flee their homeland due to persecution or the breakdown of public order.

According to United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), a refugee is someone who has been forced to flee his or her country because of persecution, war or violence.

“My husband and my close relatives died. We lost close people. This day reminds me of war,” Milambo said speaking with Xinhua at Rosettenville Clinic in Johannesburg where she is working as volunteer interpreter.

Milambo, 40, came in South Africa September 2008 with her three children under the UNHCR family reunification program to join her husband who had earlier fled Burundi war that was mainly targeting men.

She came armed with nursing certificate hoping to continue with her profession.

She thought I was easy to join nursing in South Africa but “as a refugee it’s not all that easy.”

“If you are a refugee especially from French speaking countries it’s not all that easy to joining nursing field in South Africa. The South African Nursing Council has very strict laws and you have to write a lot of examinations to be recognise,” Milambo told Xinhua calling on the council to find better ways of accommodating qualified refugees.

“The process to become a practicing nurse if you are a refugee is so long, complicated and always changing, I think the government and the council must find ways to make it easier,” Milambo whose passion for nursing will force her not to loss hope said.

At the clinic, her role is to provide interpretation services for French and Swahili speaking migrants who are unable to communicate in the local languages or English.

In addition to interpretation, she counsel patients, assists pregnant women with exercises.

“I love this profession. I love my work. I enjoy helping people to stay health thus why I am volunteering here. Although I am not working as a nurse just being in a clinic helping penitents and other nurses gives me hope that one day I will be in hospital doing my really work,” the mother of three who speaks fluent French, English and Swahili told Xinhua.

The city of Johannesburg joined resources with Refugee Nurses Association and African Migrants Solidarity to train Milambo and other 17 refugee nurses to provide interpretation services. According to the city the total number of translations needed at Rosettenville and Yeoville clinics in February was 558.

The main language needing translation at Rosettenville Clinic is French followed by Portuguese, Lingala and Swahili.

Although not paid a salary Milambo says will never abdicate and will use the opportunity to advance and meet her goals.

“I will not give up because this opportunity will help me to meet my goals and vision,” she said.

Home Affairs Deputy Minister Fatima Chohan on the commemoration of the World Refugee Day said South Africa has been a receiving country for refugees from the region, the continent and from as far away as Bangladesh and Pakistan.

According to Milambo, in South Africa refugees face challenges related to access to refugee documentation that enables self- reliance and access to socio-economic services, mainly health and education.

They continue to bear the brunt of increasing intolerance, which has result in Xenophobia tendencies against them.

“Refugees can do a lot in here to make their live much better,” Milambo said when Xinhua asked of her special message to other refugees the living in Africa’s rich nation.

“Work hard, go to school. Don’t always wait for help, help yourself first. Accommodate yourself… don’t wait for others to accommodate you,” Milambo who is still struggling to get her permanent residence status from home affairs said.

She has plans to start horticulture and poultry if she gets the document.

Milambo who is also confident that “her always passing at school” children will contribute more in South Africa after finishing school say she want to use her farming skills to partner with some South Africans to start business of keeping chickens and growing vegetables.

“Refugees are not here to destroy the country but help build and develop it more. Refugees have skills that might be in shortage in South Africa the country must utilize those skills,” she told Xinhua when asked what refugee can offer South Africa in return.

South Africa is denudated with a wide range of refugees and asylum seekers who include true political victims and economic migrants seeking economic opportunities.

The Burundi born nurse believes that as long as there is conflicts, civil strife, poor governance and general human rights violation, people subjected to social and economic underdevelopment, experience deprivations from, amongst others, food, education, healthcare and financial stability they will continue to leave their countries to seek refugee status in other nations.

In Africa, South Africa is the main destination because of its high level of democracy and economic development.

Editor: Zhang Xiang

TANZANIA:

PM to announce initiatives to strengthen Malaysia-Africa ties

June 21, 2011 / thestar.com.my

PUTRAJAYA: The Langkawi International Dialogue (LID) 2011 enters its final day Tuesday with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak set to announce new initiatives to strengthen relations between Malaysia and African countries.

He will also announce the “outcome document” that incorporates suggestions and recommendations made during the smart partnership dialogue, which need follow-up action and these will be discussed at the next dialogue.

Najib, who is also Finance Minister, is expected to announce the host for the next smart partnership dialogue the Southern African International Dialogue, possibly to be held in 2012.

This year’s LID2011 from June 19-21 was attended by African leaders such as Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe, Prime Minister Pakalitha Bethuel Mosisili of Lesotho, Swaziland Prime Minister Barnabas Sibusiso, Ugandan Vice-President Edward Sekandi and Kenyan Vice-President Stephen Kalonzo.

Participants from 15 countries attended the three-day dialogue held for the first time in Putrajaya. It was preceded by a highly-successful business forum and exhibition on June 18.

The next LID will return to the legendary island of Langkawi in 2013.-Bernama

HeidelbergCement’s Tanzania Unit May Close Plant, Guardian Says

By David Malingha Doya – /www.bloomberg.com/ Jun 21, 2011

HeidelbergCement AG (HEI)’s Tanzanian unit may close its Wazo Hill plant unless the government removes 952 people illegally occupying its premises, the Dar es Salaam-based Guardian reported, citing Sam Mapande, the company’s lawyer.

The squatters refused to move until the government pays them compensation following a dispute over ownership of the land, the newspaper said. In 2008, a domestic court ruled that the company is the owner of the land and the government promised to relocate the villagers, it said.

The state may lose 25 billion shillings ($15.6 million) in annual tax revenue if the factory closes, it said.

Tanzania to depend less on donor funding by 2015 By Sylivester Ernest

Monday, 20 June 2011 /The Citizen Reporter

Dar es Salaam. The government plans to reduce its dependence on donor funds by ten per cent by 2015, it was revealed yesterday.

Currently, it is estimated that about 32 per cent of the national budget depends on donor assistance.Chief Secretary Philemon Luhanjo said in Dar es Salaam yesterday that the achievement would be made through increasing per capita productivity among Tanzanians.

“We all know that more than 75 per cent of the 43 million people in our country depends on agriculture…this is the area we want to focus on.”He said the decision was among resolutions reached at the recent orientation course for all senior public servants in Dodoma.

“We have donor fatigue now, and even the donors are fatigued,” he said.

He said the strategy was to ensure that individual productivity is raised while using all means possible to make the agricultural sector benefit more Tanzanians than now.

“It is unfortunate that agricultural productivity is that low, but now you can all see how the government is working to improve the sector…taxes on inputs are down while there have also been efforts to make sure that fertilizers reach all farmers,” he told a press conference.

The civil service head was reacting to a question after giving a government statement on the Public Service Week which is commemorated in Tanzania from June16-23.He said while the commemoration coincided with the country’s 50 years independence anniversary, the country has had to endure with a number of challenges in the public service sector.

He singled out some as lack of enough trained personnel, failure by many public servants to cope with changing circumstances, especially in technology, and poor remuneration.“However, the government has been trying to do whatever is in its power to satisfy them,” he added.

KENYA:

Will Kenyan Superhighway Also Benefit China?

by Frank Langfitt/ www.npr.org/ June 21, 2011

This month, NPR is examining the many ways China is expanding its reach in the world — through investment, infrastructure, military power and more.

Chinese companies are scouring Africa for resources to fuel a red-hot economy back home, but Beijing is interested in more than just what’s underground.

In Kenya — which has few natural resources — the Chinese are building a massive highway and truck factory, and jockeying to construct a new port. Kenyans say it’s all part of a broader Chinese strategy that is winning friends, opening markets and causing unease.

The highest profile project is the Thika Road superhighway. Three Chinese companies are building a 31-mile road from the Kenyan capital of Nairobi to the city of Thika. In some sections, it’s 16 lanes across.

Peter Ngau, who teaches urban planning at the University of Nairobi, says East Africa has never seen anything like it.

“There’s no comparison,” he says. “It’s a showpiece of the government.”

Ngau says the highway will increase business and help expand the Kenyan economy. The road will help link Kenya to Ethiopia, a major regional economy with about 80 million people. Apartment buildings are already sprouting along the sides of the highway.

It’s also expected to ease some of Nairobi’s crippling traffic. It takes Ngau two hours to drive down the road to class each morning. When the highway is finished, he expects it will take him less than 40 minutes to get to work.

‘A Gateway’ For Goods

Why are Chinese companies building this superhighway?

Aside from profit, Ngau says, the project is a means to a greater end for China.

“I think Chinese are trying to buy favor,” he says. “One of the biggest challenges in African countries has been poor infrastructure. African people are happy with them, because the roads are better with the Chinese.”

Chinese roads are not only building good will — they’re also helping Chinese businesses penetrate the continent.

“China is seeing Kenya as a gateway to the East Africa community,” says Joseph Kieyah, an economist with the Kenya Institute for Public Research and Analysis, a government think tank.

Kieyah says East Africa’s economy is about $75 billion. And, along with the economies of other countries on the continent, it’s growing. The International Monetary Fund estimates that seven of the world’s fastest-growing economies over the next five years will be in Africa.

China already does booming trade with Kenya. Between 2005 and 2009, Chinese exports here more than tripled to $860 million. They include furniture, textiles and machinery.

Chinese Counterfeits

Most of the Chinese products are genuine, but others are fake. Some end up in a storeroom in downtown Nairobi run by Kenya’s anti-counterfeit agency. There are fake Yamaha electric guitars, fake Peavey drum sets and boxes of fake Staedtler pencils stacked nearly to the ceiling.

“The fakes from China are so rampant in Kenya,” says Caspar Oluoch, an agency inspector. “Right now, if you walk through the streets of Nairobi, you will find so many fakes there.”

As business ties between the two countries have grown, Chinese counterfeits have followed. Kenyan businesses estimate they lose more than half a billion dollars annually to fakes — mostly Chinese. A.G.N. Kamau, the chairman of the anti-counterfeit agency, says he’s written to the Chinese Embassy twice about the problem.

“But we haven’t received any response up until now,” he says.

Favored Status?

Some businesses say Chinese companies get special treatment because China is so powerful. Steve Smith, the recently retired managing director of Eveready East Africa, says the Kenyan government gave a Chinese company a waiver several years ago. The waiver allowed the company to import batteries without paying a mandatory 35 percent duty.

Smith says he eventually persuaded the government to reverse the decision, but not before the Chinese company had taken a chunk of his market share.

“We were in the 70 to 80 percent share,” Smith says. “Now, we’re below 50 percent.”

Smith says that for years, Eveready had resisted automation to maintain employment levels.

“But once this happened, we said, ‘This has to change,'” Smith recalled. “So we have automated our packing line and a lot of Kenyans lost their jobs because of it.”

Smith says his company laid off more than 300.

Wildlife Poaching

Like their products, the Chinese themselves are a growing presence in Kenya and much of Africa, and that’s having an impact on the country’s signature resource: wildlife. Every few months, police at Kenya’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport seize smuggled shipments of elephant ivory.

“Most of the arrests have been of Chinese origin,” says Patrick Omondi, head of species conservation and management with the Kenya Wildlife Service.

Police caught a Chinese man in late April traveling through the airport with more than 200 pounds of ivory. Omondi says Kenya has been hesitant to raise the issue with the Chinese Embassy.

“It will be sensitive, because we are looking for help from China on so many things,” Omondi says.

NPR made repeated calls and sent texts to the embassy in Nairobi to discuss China’s role in Kenya. Embassy officials never responded.

Esmond Bradley Martin, who studies the trade in elephant ivory and rhino horn, says both animals are increasingly in danger because prices and demand are growing as China’s economy expands.

“Horns have been appearing in London at these natural history sales,” says Martin, “and before, the price used to be quite low. And now, they’re paying up to a $100,000 for a pair of black rhino horns.”

Martin says Chinese buy rhino horn to use as a traditional medicine to lower fever.

With the Chinese economy “growing at 9 to 10 percent, now average Chinese can afford to buy rhino horn,” he adds.

Chinese and Vietnamese demand for rhino horn is now so strong at least one private reserve in Kenya gave its remaining rhinos to the government. The owner said she could no longer afford to protect the animals from poachers.

Pros And Cons

From the grasslands to the highways, China casts a long shadow here, but what is China’s ultimate impact?

“Overall, I think it’s a positive influence,” says Ngau, the urban planning professor.

Many Kenyans seem to agree. Chinese demand is helping to drive poaching and Chinese fake products are costing jobs. But people here say the Chinese are doing something Kenyans themselves never could: build a modern transport system. Kenyans hope the new roads will help lift up a country that’s still relatively poor and improve ordinary lives

Judiciary boss’ bold choice ‘signified break with tradition’

By NATION CORRESPONDENT/ www.nation.co.ke/Posted Monday, June 20 2011

Where one or two judges gather for an official function, one thing often makes them stand out: flowing red robes, and white wigs.

The attire, whose use in Kenya originated from the English courts, is regarded the official wear for judges, and is often worn at Judiciary and State functions.

But on Monday, new Chief Justice Willy Mutunga broke the pattern at his swearing-in ceremony.

His jungle green suit, peach shirt and brightly-coloured tie were a stark contrast to the traditional black gowns worn by Director of Public Prosecutions Keriako Tobiko and High Court Registrar Lydia Achode.

Mr Tobiko was also taking an oath of office, while Ms Achode was there in her capacity as the top judicial administrator.

According to Mr Nicholas Mbeba, a spokesman of the Judiciary, the new Chief Justice said that he avoided the robe to signify a break with the past.

“There is no law that required Dr Mutunga to wear the robe,” said Fred Ojiambo, adding that the tradition originated in Britain.

“Puisne (High Court) judges were established by the king to hear cases and were required to wear robes to distinguish them from the Executive,” he said.

Mourning period

It is generally believed that the tradition of wearing robes started some time in the 17th Century in England, when all the judges attended the funeral of Queen Mary dressed in black robes.

They did so as sign of mourning. Because the mourning period lasted several years, the practice became entrenched among England’s judges.

It is also believed that as the British Empire expanded due to colonisation, Englishmen carried over the practice to other countries, including Kenya.

While it started off with black robes, the officials slowly adopted red, which is now popular with Kenyan judges.

Judges in other former British colonies like Uganda and Zambia also wear red robes often with black or white appendages.

In England, red was historically associated with royalty, and judges served the royalty.

Children’s doctor Philipp Bonhoeffer wins hearsay evidence case

21 June 2011/www.bbc.co.uk

A paediatric cardiologist has won his High Court bid to prevent hearsay evidence being used in disciplinary proceedings over child abuse claims.

Prof Philipp Bonhoeffer, of Camden, north London, denies allegations of sexually abusing children in Kenya.

The General Medical Council referred his case to a fitness to practise panel, which decided to consider hearsay evidence from a Kenyan man.

The court has quashed the panel’s decision to admit the hearsay evidence.

Lord Justice Laws and Mr Justice Stadlen declared the panel’s conclusion that it was fair to admit the hearsay evidence was “irrational”.

The judges added that it breached the former Great Ormond Street Hospital doctor’s rights to a fair hearing.

In the ruling Mr Justice Stadlen said: “The more serious the allegation, the greater the importance of ensuring that the accused doctor is afforded fair and proper procedural safeguards. There is no public interest in a wrong result.

“For these reasons in my judgment the (panel’s) conclusion that it was fair to admit the hearsay evidence of Witness A and its decision to admit it was irrational and constituted a breach of the claimant’s Article 6(1) right to a fair hearing and cannot stand. The decision must accordingly be quashed.”

‘Single source’

Following the decision, GMC chief executive Niall Dickson said: “We will need to study the judgment carefully, but it is important to note that the judicial review was on a narrow point of law about the admissibility of some of the evidence.

“The GMC case remains open.”

He said the cardiologist “continues to be suspended from the medical register under an interim order”.

Prof Bonhoeffer’s barrister Kieran Coonan QC had asked the court to overturn the decision by the fitness to practise panel saying it would violate the doctor’s human rights.

The GMC alleges he is guilty of serious sexual misconduct and has temporarily suspended him from the medical register while the disciplinary panel considers his case.

The cardiologist’s barrister told the court the claims of sexual misconduct arose during his work as a doctor in Kenya “and his association over a considerable period of time with a number of young males who are nationals of Kenya”.

He said the doctor had “funded their education, their accommodation and living expenses”.

The court heard the evidence against Prof Bonhoeffer in the majority of allegations came from “a single source”, known as witness A, who he had also given financial assistance.

The disciplinary panel wanted to admit the evidence of the witness, but said it did not want to bring him to London to testify because it believed the man would be at risk of being harmed in his homeland if he was identified in proceedings as having engaged in homosexual activity with the doctor.

Witness A, who is now a married father in his late-20s, also claims there were other victims, but those claims were not supported by any other witnesses, Mr Coonan said.

In the ruling Mr Justice Stadlen added that the panel made no findings that there would be a significantly greater threat to the safety of Witness A if he came to the UK and gave evidence than if his hearsay evidence was put before the panel.

It was a “remarkable feature” of the case that the witness himself had repeatedly expressed “his willingness and ability to attend to give live oral testimony and expressed himself as willing and able to do so right up to the date of the hearing in front of the panel,” the judge said.

He added that there was a “formidable” argument for the “extremely eminent consultant paediatric cardiologist of international repute” to be accorded the opportunity to cross-examine Witness A.

The judge said: “It is hard to imagine circumstances in which the ability to cross-examine the uncorroborated allegations of a single witness would assume greater importance to a professional man faced with such serious allegations.”

Deacons Kenya reports 36 pc growth in profit

By NATION REPORTER/Posted Tuesday, June 21 2011

Fashion wear dealer Deacons Kenya has reported a 36.6 per cent growth in after tax profits for the year ending December 2010. According to the company’s annual report earnings rose from Sh79 million in 2009 to Sh108 million last year.

Deacons chairman Peter Njoka attributed the growth to increased consumer spending witnessed across the East African economies.

“This was a historic year for our group. It is the same year that we had our very successful public offer in November, 2010. Our vision to list this local company on the Nairobi Stock Exchange is unfolding,” he said.

“In spite of the tough economic environment the world is currently facing, we are confident that we shall continue to deliver to our shareholders positive results as the regions middle class continues to expand,” said Mr Njoka.

Mr Muchiri Wahome, the group CEO said the expansion programme will not be affected by the harsh economic forecasts being witnessed as a result of inflationary pressure occasioned by high oil and food prices and a weakening Shilling.

“While margins will be under pressure, the company has taken adequate measures to protect itself against unexpected changes in the marketplace. We are cognisant of the challenges and will ensure that customers receive value propositions despite the tough times we are currently witnessing. Our strategy is driven by unlocking new markets. All our brands have a lot of headroom, particularly as new infrastructure is laid down and malls continue to develop”.

Kenya’s MPs ordered to pay higher taxes

21 June 2011 /www.bbc.co.uk

Kenya’s tax office is demanding that MPs pay tax on their full salary and perks, accusing them of breaching the constitution by failing to do so.

The tax office also said it wanted payments to be back-dated to last August, when Kenya adopted a new constitution.

The arrears come to about $10,000 (£6,100) for each MP.

Kenya’s MPs are among the highest paid in Africa, earning a total of about $9,300 a month.

The MPs pay tax on perks worth about $2,000, while the rest of their income is tax-free.

The BBC’s Caroline Karobia in the capital, Nairobi, says the MPs have a gentleman’s agreement with President Mwai Kibaki, exempting them from paying higher tax during the current parliamentary term.

‘Legally compelled’

They intend to pay more tax after parliamentary elections next year, when their salaries will also go up, she says.

MPs voted last year to increase their after-tax annual salaries and perks to as high as $126,000 after the 2012 election.

Their decision sparked outrage, with critics accusing them of voting for salaries higher than their counterparts in the UK.

The MPs said they deserved higher salaries because they were over-worked, and were responsible for major decisions about the nation’s economic and political well-being.

Our reporter says many Kenyans are waiting to see how MPs will now respond to the letter sent to them by the Kenya Revenue Authority, which are argues that the parliamentarians are legally compelled to pay tax on their total income.

The letter was sent after MPs ignored a recent plea by Kenya’s tax chief, Michael Waweru, that higher taxes would boost the government’s income, making more money available for poverty-alleviation programmes.

The average annual income in Kenya is about $730, while most of the population earns less than $1 a day.

UPDATE 1-Importers push Kenyan shilling to a new low vs dlr

Tue Jun 21, 2011 / Reuters

* Shilling seen weakening towards 92.00

* Central bank says in for a 0.5 billion shillings repo

By Kevin Mwanza NAIROBI, June 21 (Reuters) – The Kenyan shilling KES= hit

a record low against the dollar on Tuesday pressured by importer

demand for the U.S. currency and traders said it could drift

still weaker. The shilling reversed earlier gains to hit an all-time low

of 91.45 against the dollar and traders said it could slide

towards 92.00 as end-month demand come into the market. At 0920 GMT, commercial banks quoted the shilling at

91.25/45 against the dollar, weaker than Monday’s close of

90.85/91.05. “It is still one way down for the besieged shilling in

today’s trading. We are plumbing fresh lows every day,” said

Mwambu Malamba, a senior trader at Commercial Bank of Africa. Technical analysis of the graphs of the 14-day and 50-day

simple moving averages suggest the shilling could stay on a

weakening trend in the short term. Central Bank of Kenya said it was in the market to mop up

0.5 billion shilling ($5.50 million) through repurchase

agreements, or repos, as it continues with its policy of

monetary tightening. The central bank rejected all bids from commercial banks for

its repos in the last four consecutive sessions. CBK04 The shilling plunged 1.4 percent to 91.00 on Monday after

the central bank governor Njuguna Ndung’u — in reaction to

analysts’ views that he needed to do more for the local currency

— said he would not intervene to prop up the shilling.

[ID:nLDE75J0O6] [ID:nLDE7580LQ] “The shilling reversed its gains due to demand for dollars

from importers across the board. Some importers, who had

expected the central bank to intervene, seem to have given up,”

said Julius Kiriinya, a trader at African Banking Corporation. Traders said the shilling was seen trading in a very wide

range of 88.00-92.00 against the greenback. Some traders said the bank was confusing the market by

mopping up the shilling through repos and lending more through

the overnight window. The central bank said in its weekly report that due to tight

liquidity, in the week ended June 17 commercial banks borrowed

56.4 billion shillings ($621 million) from its overnight window,

up from 30.04 billion shillings in the previous week.

KES= KES1=………………………Shilling spot rates

KESF= <0#KESF=>…………………Shilling forward rates

EURKES= KESX= KESX1=…………………..Cross rates

KES=KE…………………………….Local contributors

CBKINDEX…………………..Central Bank of Kenya Index

<KE/DEBT>…………………Kenyan Bonds contributor pages

CBK03 CBK06 KE3MTB=……………Treasury bill yields

CBK04………………Central bank open market operations

CBK07…………………….Horizontal repo transactions

KEIBR=,CBK02…………….Daily interbank lending rate <0#KETSYSTR=>………………………..Kenya Bond pricing

ECONAFRICA………………Real time Africa economic data

<ECI & AFR> ………………………African economic news

SPEED GUIDES:

REUTERS <KES/1> <KE/DEBT> MONEY <KE/EQUITY>

(Editing by James Macharia/Ruth Pitchford)

Kenya: Country Endorsed As Choice Tourist Destination

Brian Otieno/ Nairobi Star (Nairobi) /20 June 2011

Kenya’s tourism industry got a major boost at the weekend when the United Nations World Tourism Organization endorsed Kenya as a strategic partner in the world’s tourism sector.

Secretary general Taleb Rifai, who arrived in the country on Saturday ahead of a UNWTO executive council meeting today, said Kenya has recovered remarkably quickly from the turmoil that rocked the country during the 2007/2008 post election violence. “We are not here in Kenya and particularly in Mombasa by accident. We are here because there is a very important message behind our meeting here.

The message is, Kenya is important to us and Kenya is strongly back on stage. The world was just waiting for Kenya to get over its internal difficulty which it did in a remarkable way,” said Rifai.

Rifai said Kenya is open for tourism and there is the political will in the East African Community to work together to boost the region’s tourism sector. UNWTO chair Michela Brambilla will today officially open the meeting of the 90th executive council for which a record 29 of the 31 heads of delegations representing the 155 member states of the UNWTO have confirmed participation.

The meeting, being held for the first time in Subsaharan Africa, will discuss important issues in the sector leading to the general assembly to be held in Korea in October. It will among other things approve the plan of work of the entire WTO and the budget for the next two years.

The delegation will then on Wednesday visit the Maasai Mara national park for the whole day and night before flying to Nairobi on Thursday where the inaugural Tourism Awards ceremony will be held.

On Friday, Rifai will lead a delegation to meet President Kibaki who will sign the golden book, becoming the second African president to sign the book after South Africa’s Jacob Zuma. The golden book commits countries and heads of states to supporting the tourism sector.

Kenya May Link Commercial Banks’ Lending Rates to Benchmark, Daily Reports

By Paul Richardson /www.bloomberg.com/- Jun 21, 2011

Commercial banks in Kenya may be required to peg their lending rates to a benchmark with a clearly defined spread under new rules being considered by the country’s Treasury, Business Daily reported.

The government wants the pricing of loans to be made as transparent as possible, similar to other countries where short- term loans are priced using the London Interbank Overnight Rate, the Nairobi-based newspaper said, citing Henry Rotich, deputy economic secretary in the Treasury.

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki said yesterday there was an “urgent need” for commercial banks to cut rates to spur economic growth.

EMBRAER 190 Jet to Expand Kenya Airways Fleet

06/20/2011/ www.newswiretoday.com

São José dos Campos, São Paulo, Brazil,

Embraer and Kenya’s national flag carrier Kenya Airways signed a Letter of Intent, subject to final agreement, for the acquisition of ten EMBRAER 190 jets, today, at the 49th Paris Air Show, in France. The deal also includes options for another ten aircraft, which could be either the EMBRAER 190 (E190) or the EMBRAER 170 (E170).

“Kenya Airways’ decision to increase its fleet of EMBRAER 190 jets is great news, and we are delighted with this further sign of confidence from the largest E-Jets operator in Sub Saharan Africa,” said Paulo César de Souza e Silva, Embraer President, Commercial Aviation. “Complementing the existing E-Jets in their fleet, this is proof of the reliability and efficiency the jets bring to airlines, demonstrating the versatility, economics and performance of the E-Jets family.”

With the projected order, the total number of E-Jets ordered by Kenya Airways comes to 20, considering aircraft acquired directly from Embraer (embraer.com) or through leasing companies.

Kenya Airway’s E190 will be configured in a dual-class layout with 96 seats: 12 in business class and 84 in economy. Deliveries are scheduled to begin in the second half of 2012. As the first E-Jets operator in Africa, since 2006, the airline has been operating five E170s and two E190s under agreements with leasing companies. Three E190 jets remain to be delivered this year and in 2012.

“As we continue to focus on the expansion of our network with longer routes from our hub in Nairobi, the acquisition of new EMBRAER 190s is key to our growth strategy,” said Dr. Titus Naikuni, Group Managing Director & Chief Executive of Kenya Airways. “The E190 jet fits well with our expansion strategy, giving us an opportunity to expand our network and increasing our frequencies beyond the current offering while cementing our mandate of connecting Africa to the World and the World to Africa through our hub at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.”

The EMBRAER 190 is the third of the brand-new four-member Embraer E-Jets family of commercial aircraft and entered service in August 2005. The jet may be configured in one or two classes, seating 98 to 114 passengers in a comfortable four-abreast (2-2), no-middle-seat, configuration, and can fly up to 2,400 nautical miles (4,450 kilometers) nonstop.

About Kenya Airways

Kenya Airways (kenya-airways.com), the Pride of Africa, operates the most modern fleet in Africa and is the state and flag carrier for the Republic of Kenya. It currently consists of 32 aircraft and flies to 54 destinations in Africa, Europe, the Middle East and the Far East. Its onboard service is renowned and the lie-flat business class seat on the wide-body aircraft is consistently voted among the world’s top 10. Recently, it scooped top awards at the Africa Investor (AI) Tourism Investor Awards and was declared the Business Airline of the Year in Africa. Kenya Airways takes pride in being at the forefront of connecting Africa to the World and the World to Africa through its hub at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).

ANGOLA:

Angola: Country And Russia Discuss Energy Cooperation

20 June 2011/AngolaPress

Luanda — The Angolan Energy and Water Minister, Emanuela Viera Lopes, analysed on Monday here with the vice-Speaker of the Russian parliament, Nadiejda Vassilieva Guerassimova, the strengthening of bilateral cooperation on power sector between both countries.

During the closed door meeting, both Angolan and Russian officials discussed the possibility in sharing experience, training of staff, as well as strengthening of relations in various fields of the referred sector.

On the other hand, the Angolan Energy minister is expected in the northern Uíge province, where she will chair the first Broad Consultative Council of the energy sector, set on 23-24 June.

The event will be held under the motto “Energy and Water development factors”.

During her stay in the region, the minister will assess and inaugurate, on the sidelined of the meeting, several projects of the sector such as water supply system and power station based in Maquela do Zombo district.

Emanuela Vieira Lopes, who is leading a delegation of her sector, will meet with the provincial government officials, chieftains and representatives of civil society.

The minister’s official programme also includes visit to shelter centre of the Angolan refugees from DR Congo.

Foreign Affairs minister in Zambia for meeting

6/21/11 / www.portalangop.co.ao

Lusaka – Angola’s Foreign Affairs minister, Georges Chikoty, arrived this Tuesday morning in Lusaka, Zambia’s capital city, to lead the Angolan delegation to the session of the ministerial commission of the organ of political co-operation, defence and security with the SADC, ANGOP has learnt.

At the local airport, the minister was received by the Angolan outgoing ambassador to Zambia, Pedro Neto.

The session was prepared by experts in matters of co-operation, defence and security of the member states of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), including Angola.

The proposal presented by Angola for the commemorations of March 23, as the date of the Southern Africa region, is one of the country’s main point for the meeting.

On the mentioned date, the Angolan troops defeated their opponents from the then apartheid regime of South Africa, during the great battle of Cuito Cuanavale, in 1988.

The agenda also comprises the analysis of the situations in Madagascar and in Zimbabwe, as well as the creation of a common visa for the member countries.

Angola’s Foreign Exchange Reserves Climbed 9.1% to $20.3 Billion in May

By Henrique Almeida /www.bloomberg.com/- Jun 20, 2011

Angola’s foreign-exchange reserves increased 9.1 percent in May to $20.3 billion, an official central bank document obtained by Bloomberg News showed.

Reserves rose from $18.6 billion in April, the document from the Luanda-based Banco Nacional de Angola, received today, said.

Reserves in Angola, sub-Saharan Africa’s second biggest oil producer, have been boosted by higher international oil prices. While crude oil fell to its lowest in four months in New York today, it has gained 10 percent over the past year.

AU/AFRICA:

Africa: Midwives Could Save 3.6-Million Lives

Kerry Cullinan/ Health-e (Cape Town) / allafrica.com/21 June 2011

Ninety percent of all maternal deaths could be prevented if pregnant women were cared for by trained midwives, with specialised back-up in case of emergencies.

This is according to the first-ever report on the State of the World’s Midwifery released at the International Confederation of Midwives in Durban yesterday.

The report estimates that the lives of up to 3.6 million mothers and newborn babies could be saved every year by midwives working in a supportive health system.

“The needless loss of life is a reminder of global injustice,” says the report, noting that a woman’s chance of dying as a result of pregnancy is one in 31 in sub-Saharan Africa and one in 4 300 in the developed world.

The report is the result of research conducted in 58 countries, mainly in Africa and Asia, that account for 91 percent of the world’s maternal deaths (women dying during pregnancy and labour).

Over 7000 babies are stillborn, some 5 480 newborns die within 24 hours and almost 1000 mothers die every day in the world.

But these deaths could be slashed with proper maternal care. Unfortunately, there is a global shortage of at least 350 000 midwives.

The World Health Organisation recommends one midwife per 175 pregnant women, but in Rwanda, for example, there is one midwife per 8 600 births.

There are no figures for how many midwives there are in South Africa because they are simply classified as nurses.

Bridget Lynch, President of the International Confederation of Midwives, said South Africa was renowned for training some of the best midwives in the world in the 1970s but they had been “subsumed by nursing regulations”.

The figures for maternal mortality in South Africa are also disputed, ranging between 400 and 625 per 100,000.

While it is hard to get an accurate maternal mortality figure, the Saving Mothers’ Report indicated that the five major causes of maternal death during 2005-2007 were non-pregnancy related infections, mainly AIDS (43.7%), hypertension (15.7%), haemorrhage (12.4%), sepsis (9.0%) and pre-existing maternal disease (6.0%).

Some 38,4% of the 4,077 maternal deaths reviewed were avoidable within the health care system.

“Although the exact figure is disputed, South Africa’s maternal mortality rate is high for a middle income country,” said research Loveday Penn-Kekana. “The figure has also doubled since 1990, mainly as a result of HIV/AIDS.”

Bunmi Makinwa, the Africa Director for the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), which co-ordinated the report, urged governments to “make employment conditions more attractive for midwives”.

“Safe childbirth is not a luxury, it is a human right,” said Makinwa.

Drug cartels “using subs” in West Africa

Tristan McConnell /www.globalpost.com/June 21, 2011

Drugs traffickers for whom West Africa is a handy transit point between Latin America and Europe are becoming increasingly sophisticated in their attempts to avoid law enforcers says a United Nations anti-narcotics official

Drug traffickers are turning to submarines and other methods to avoid detection as they ship ever-greater quantities of cocaine via West Africa from the production fields of South America to the markets of Europe.

“We are not talking about military vessels here, but rather smaller ones which can be bought freely on the international market by anybody who has a couple of million dollars to spare,” said Alexandre Schmidt, regional head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

He was speaking during a drugs summit dubbed the West Africa Coast Initiative held in Senegal this week.

GlobalPost has previously reported on the use of drugs subs in South America but this is the first time officials have suggested they are being used in Africa.

According to UNODC figures, based on seizures, 35 tons of cocaine were transited through West Africa in 2009, down from 47 tons the previous year. But Schmidt warned that the apparent fall in volumes could be down to the cartels’ improved capacity for hiding their activities.

It is estimated that the value of the trade through West Africa was now $800 million a year and rising.

Schmidt warned that drugs cartels were threatening to turn West Africa into another Mexico, a country that has become a byword for drug-related violence. “What we are seeing in West Africa is like what we saw in Mexico,” he said.

West Africa is a largely poor part of the world and the value of the illegal drugs moving through the region dwarfs some national economies.

He added that cases of local cocaine use were also on the rise and it was becoming, “a huge issue for public health” in West Africa.

Agona East celebrates AU Day of the African Child

Tuesday, June 21, 2011 / www.ghanabusinessnews.com

The Acting Southern Sector Manager of Plan Ghana, Mr George Cobbinah York has said his outfit is working hard to improve the lives of children in the community.

He said Plan Ghana has been constructing school buildings in the most deprived communities throughout the country to help in the education of children.

Mr York said this at a durbar organized for school children and their parents from seven communities at Okitsew in Agona East District to commemorate the 21st edition of Africa Union Day of the African Child.

The communities were Agona Namanwura, Odumase, Amanful, Asarekwaa, Kwaman, Okitsew and Awutu Obrachire.

The day was organised under the theme: “All together for urgent action in favour of street children”.

Mr York said, as part of his organisation’s contributions to ensure that children do not have to seek refuge on the streets, they are working in concert with other stakeholders for the proper grooming of the child.

He said Plan Ghana has also been raising awareness of child rights, education, health and creating an enabling environment free from violence and exploitation.

Mr York said this will help children attend school, acquire knowledge and skills to become useful future leaders.

He called on all stakeholders in the education of the child to come together to address the needs of the street children.

Mr Martin Luther Obeng, District Chief Executive for Agona East, commended Plan Ghana for their contribution towards the training of children in the country.

Mr Emmanuel Kumah of the Agona East Education Directorate, who chaired the function, urged parents to send their children to school for them to acquire knowledge.

Source: GNA

AU: Agreement on Abyei demilitarization done, more deals in works

June 21, 2011/ english.peopledaily.com.cn

North and south sides of Sudan have inked a deal on the demilitarization of Abyei and are in the midst of working towards other agreements, Thabo Mbeki, head of the African Union (AU) panel on Sudan, told a UN Security Council meeting Monday.

Mbeki, former president of South Africa and chair of the African Union High Level Implementation Panel on Sudan (AUHIP) briefed the Security Council via video conference from Addis Ababa about the successful agreement during the council’s Monday morning meeting on Sudan.

He said in the agreement both north and south requested various interventions on the part of the United Nations with regard to the implementation of that agreement, said Mbeki.

Abyei, a border area that both north and south Sudan have made claims to, has been occupied since the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) of Khartoum entered on May 21, in retaliation for an attack a few days earlier by the south’s Sudanese People’s Liberation Army ( SPLA) that killed 22 people.

Under the agreement signed Monday, Sudanese soldiers must leave the area, which will be patrolled by Ethiopian peacekeepers instead.

The violence in Abyei has caused thousands of people living there to flee their homes and has hampered humanitarian assistance to those in need.

The UN must authorize and determine the size and mandate of the deployment of peacekeepers to Abyei. Mbeki said that the sooner that the UN Security Council makes its decisions, the better.

“We would like that to happen as quickly as possible because, among other things it will enable the displaced people in Abyei to return to their homes, which is conditional on the withdrawal of all of the other military forces, demilitarization of the area, and the replacement of the Sudanese military forces by the Ethiopian forces,” he said.

The sovereignty of Abyei has become a very salient issue as Southern Sudan moves towards declaring official independence on July 9. Abyei was supposed to hold a referendum on its final status under the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), the agreement that ended a long war between north and south Sudan. However, due to conflict over what groups were eligible to vote in Abyei, this referendum never happened.

“It’s also been agreed by the parties that it was necessary to resolve these current issues that relate to the security of Abyei before we come back to the consideration of the matter of the final status of Abyei,” Mbeki said.

Another area of fighting in Sudan has been the South Kordofan state, where north and south are still engaged in combat. Mbeki said that AUHIP as well as other actors have organized a meeting between the parties to the conflict in Addis Ababa on Tuesday to discuss a cessation of violence.

“We are hoping they will engage seriously to comprehensive negotiations on South Kordofan, which will relate both to the security situation and political situation,” he said.

Aside from security and political concerns, the parties to the negotiations in Sudan are hard at work on an economic agreement for the relations between north and south after South Sudan becomes its own country on July 9.

“I am very glad with regard to that good progress is being made, we’ve already finalized discussions which relate to matters of assets and liabilities, which of course include how to approach issues of international debt that Sudan carries,” said Mbeki.

There is another package being discussed, he said, that will deal with trade, currency, and oil, and will hopefully be agreed upon by both north and south.

Source: Xinhua

Abyei peace deal announced

Tristan McConnell /www.globalpost.com/June 21, 2011

Thabo Mbeki says agreement has been reached between northern and southern Sudan to withdraw all troops from the disputed region of Abyei and for peacekeepers from Ethiopia to be deployed

Northern and southern Sudan have agreed a deal to withdraw all their troops from the disputed border region of Abyei to make way for a new temporary administration backed by Ethiopian peacekeepers.

Former South African president Thabo Mbeki announced the deal to the UN Security Council after days of negotiation in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia.

“The SPLM [the southern Sudan Peoples’ Liberation Movement] and the [northern] Sudanese government have signed an agreement on Abyei,” said Mbeki.

“It provides for the demilitarisation of Abyei so that the Sudanese armed forces would withdraw and for the deployment of Ethiopian forces,” he said.

The deal was quickly endorsed by world powers eager to see a resolution of the crisis that has forced 100,000 people from their homes since the north occupied Abyei in May, just weeks before the south is due to celebrate its independence.

“The Secretary-General welcomes the agreement on Abyei… [and] calls on all the parties to abide in full by its provisions to demilitarize the area and establish an administration and police service and to provide their full cooperation to the UN and Ethiopia in deploying peacekeeping troops and police to the area,” said a statement from UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Ban added that hostilities must end immediately in the neighbouring state of South Korodfan where 60,000 have been forced from their homes amid allegations of ethnic cleansing levelled against Khartoum’s forces. There is little sign of a deal there.

Susan Rice, US ambassador to the UN, said she would immediately draft a resolution authorising the deployment of Ethiopian peacekeepers to Abyei.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton offered a cautious welcome to Mbeki’s announcement.

“The agreement signed today is an important first step – but the real test of the parties’ commitment will be the full implementation of its provisions in the coming days,” Clinton said.

“I urge all parties to follow through on their commitment to withdraw their military forces and take steps to facilitate the return of the tens of thousands of people displaced by recent fighting,” she said.

Ethiopia is due to deploy a brigade, roughly 4,000 troops, to Abyei as soon as Security Council authorisation is approved. Mbeki said he hoped this would be done by the end of the month, ahead of the south’s independence on 9 July.

NATO drone goes down in Libya

By the CNN Wire Staff/June 21, 2011

Tripoli, Libya (CNN) — In the first loss of equipment since NATO began airstikes on Libya, an unmanned helicopter went down Tuesday in the central coastal area, though the alliance did not give any details on whether it was shot down or experienced mechanical problems.

NATO lost contact with the drone at 7:20 a.m., spokesman Wing Cmdr. Mike Bracken said at a news conference.

Libyan state television reported that an “Apache helicopter was downed in the area of Majr in Zliten,” claiming it was the fifth NATO aircraft to be downed.

An Apache is an attack helicopter. Bracken specifically denied that NATO had lost any attack helicopters during the alliance’s mission in Libya.

The loss for NATO comes as the alliance faced pressure over a series of incidents over the weekend and into Monday that resulted in allegations of civilian casualties and strikes on Libyan opposition vehicles.

Libya claimed that 15 people, including three children, were killed in Monday’s incident, said Libyan government spokesman Musa Ibrahim, and included strikes from eight rockets.

“You are planting the seeds of hatred, NATO,” Ibrahim said.

Five houses and a farm were hit in the Surman area, west of Tripoli, at about 4 a.m. (10 p.m. ET Sunday), he said.

One of the homes belongs to Khaled el-Kweldi, a top aide to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, Ibrahim said. He was not home at the time of the attack, but Khaleda el-Kweldi, a 6-year-old girl, was killed, along with Khalid el-Kweldi, a 4-year-old boy, the spokesman said. Another 6-year-old, Salam Lanouri, was also killed, according to Ibrahim.

NATO said a residential building west of Tripoli was targeted early Monday.

“NATO is aware of allegations that this strike caused civilian casualties,” Bracken said. “That is something we cannot independently verify but I say again that this was a legitimate military target.”

He would not give any details of how NATO came to determine that the target was a command and control communications node except to say that 17 satellite dishes could be seen in aerial imagery.

Bracken said the command and control center was directly involved in coordinating systematic attacks on the Libyan people.

Monday’s strike in Surman came a day after NATO acknowledged an errant airstrike in Tripoli may have caused “a number of civilian casualties.” Libya’s government said Sunday that nine people were killed and six wounded when a NATO strike hit a residential neighborhood in the Libyan capital.

NATO said Sunday that a military missile site was the intended target. “However, it appears that one weapon did not strike the intended target and that there may have been a weapons system failure,” a NATO statement said.

On Saturday, NATO expressed regret after its aircraft mistakenly struck vehicles aligned with the Libyan opposition in the key and hotly contested eastern oil city of al-Brega.

Meanwhile Tuesday, Libyan opposition leader Mahmoud Jibril arrived in Beijing for meetings with Chinese officials, state media reported.

Jibril, the chairman of the Executive Board of the opposition Transitional National Council, will be in China for two days, according to Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei.

“China’s major task is to promote peace and encourage talks,” Hong said. “China has followed closely the development of the situation in Libya, and calls for the political resolution of the Libyan crisis.”

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the rebels “an important political power of Libya.”

The acknowledgement comes a month after Jibril told CNN that China bolstered the opposition movement’s stature by purchasing a shipment of oil from the opposition group for $160 million.

“We have maintained contacts with the both sides of Libya, and urge them to take actions that are conducive to the interest of the people of the country,” Hong said. “We believe that the future of Libya should be determined by the Libyan people themselves, and China will respect the independent choice of the Libyan people.”

In May, Jibril met with French President Nicholas Sarkozy and Prime Minister Francois Fillon in Paris. France has been the strongest backer for the Libyan rebels and the NATO air campaign.

Also in May, Jibril tried to secure formal recognition for the interim council from the White House, but fell short of getting one.

Since then, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said that the United States views the group as the legitimate representative of the Libyan people.

For weeks, NATO forces have been targeting forces loyal to Gadhafi in an effort to prevent them from inflicting civilian casualties. Most of those strikes have come from missiles fired from off-shore ships or aircraft flying high above the North African nation, though this month British and French attack helicopters flew closer to the ground in al-Brega to go after targets in that city more precisely.

The European Union’s Foreign Affairs Council, meeting Monday in Luxembourg, stepped up sanctions on Gadhafi’s regime, freezing assets of “six port authorities under the regime’s control.”

“The EU is taking further action against the military arsenal used by the regime against its own citizens,” the organization said. Humanitarian shipments are exempt from the measure, it added.

“Time is not on Gadhafi’s side,” the organization said. “He has lost all legitimacy to remain in power. … The time has come for a new chapter where Libyans can choose their own future.”

Al-Brega is on a frontline — east of Gadhafi’s base in Tripoli and west of the rebels’ headquarters in Benghazi — in fighting that has taken place between the two sides over the past several months.

TUNIS – Procès Ben Ali: un premier acte rapide ou expéditif ?

Créé le 20/06/2011/ www.20minutes.fr

TUNIS – Initiatrice du Printemps arabe, la Tunisie a été rapide dans la condamnation de ses anciens dirigeants en infligeant d’entrée de jeu une peine de 35 ans de prison à l’ex-président Ben Ali et son épouse, au risque d’être qualifiée d’expéditive.

La justice tunisienne n’a pas traîné. La condamnation de Zine El Abidine Ben Ali et de son épouse Leïla Trabelsi est tombée à l’issue d’une seule journée de procès, après six heures de délibérations.

L’ex-couple présidentiel a été condamné par contumace à 35 ans de prison et à 91 millions de dinars (45 millions d’euros) pour détournement de fonds publics. Mais il est réfugié en Arabie saoudite, où les autorités n’ont jusqu’ici pas fait mine d’être disposées à l’extrader.

“C’est une grande déception, une mascarade de justice expéditive à laquelle la dictature nous avait habitués”, a jugé Mouhieddine Cherbib du Comité pour le respect des libertés et des droits de l’homme en Tunisie (CRLDHT).

“On aurait aimé un vrai procès, équitable”, a regretté M. Cherbib. Pour lui, celui qui a dirigé la Tunisie d’une main de fer pendant 23 ans “devait être jugé pour haute trahison et pas pour des charges de droit commun”.

Kemais Ksila, secrétaire général de la Ligue tunisienne des droits de l’homme, note pour sa part qu’on en est actuellement “au démarrage” du processus. “Cela va durer. Nous en sommes à la première instance et il y a des recours”, dit-il en soulignant qu’il faut “donner du temps à la justice”.

“Nous tenons à ne pas avoir un procès politique mais un procès normal qui respecte les procédures”, ajoute-t-il.

De fait, le procès de lundi n’est qu’un début comme le souligne le quotidien La Presse qui titrait: “un acompte de 35 ans chacun” pour l’ex-président et son épouse.

Plusieurs actions en justice attendent M. Ben Ali et son entourage, dont certaines devant des juridictions militaires, notamment pour des homicides commis pendant la répression de la révolte populaire qui a conduit au départ du dirigeant, le 14 janvier dernier.

Le tribunal a d’autre part repoussé au 30 juin, à la demande de la défense, la décision sur une seconde affaire. Dans ce dossier, l’ex-président est accusé de détention d’armes et de stupéfiants, retrouvés dans le palais de Carthage, ce qu’il nie vigoureusement.

Son avocat libanais, Akram Azoury a pour sa part qualifié de “plaisanterie” le jugement rendu lundi soir estimant qu’il bafoue “les principes d’équité”.

Mais, interrogé sur le caractère jugé expéditif par certains de la sentence, l’avocat tunisien Chawki Tabib a expliqué à l’AFP qu’il n’y avait là rien d’arnormal.

“Le code tunisien de procédure pénale stipule qu’en matière d’assises la cour doit rendre son jugement le jour même”, souligne-t-il.

Pour Khadija Mohsen-Finan, chercheuse spécialiste du Maghreb à l’université de Paris VIII, “il était nécessaire (pour les nouvelles autorités) de condamner Ben Ali pour donner quelque chose à la population”.

“Il fallait donner un os pour dire qu’on était toujours dans la logique révolutionnaire. Mais il aurait fallu se donner les moyens de réussir ce procès, ce qui n’a pas été fait”, a-t-elle dit à l’AFP en estimant que les autorités “avaient raté le coche”.

Béatrice Hibou, directrice de recherche au Centre d’études et de recherches internationales (CERI) de Paris, juge aussi que “ce procès est un prétexte, une mascarade pour montrer qu’on fait quelque chose”.

“La Tunisie est dans un rapport de forces entre le mouvement social et le système qui veut continuer, débarrassé des formes aggravées de prédation et de répression”, dit-elle en notant que “dans le gouvernement, l’administration, la justice, ce sont en grande partie des gens de l’ancien régime qui sont toujours en place”.

M. Ben Ali est en tout cas le premier chef d’Etat chassé du pouvoir par le Printemps arabe à faire face à la justice de son pays. En août ce sera au tour de l’ex-président égyptien Hosni Moubarak et de ses deux fils.

—© 2011 AFP

Maroc: réformes constitutionnelles dignes d’une « révolution de velours »

20 juin 2011 /streetgeneration.fr /Sephora Guedj

Mohammed VI propose l’instauration d’une « monarchie constitutionnelle, démocratique, parlementaire et sociale ». Les partis politiques chantent alors que le Mouvement du 20 février déchante.

Les partis politiques marocains sont satisfaits de la réforme annoncée vendredi par le roi Mohammed VI avant l’organisation d’un référendum prévu le 1er juillet. Mais le Mouvement du 20 février affiche sa déception et invite le peuple à de nouvelles manifestations. Il réclame une monarchie parlementaire avec un roi qui règne mais ne gouverne pas, des changements politiques profonds et la fin de la corruption.

Dans son discours, Mohammed VI s’est défini comme un « roi citoyen », proposant « un nouveau contrat entre le peuple et la monarchie ». Toutefois, aucun changement concernant son statut de « commandeur des croyants », la première autorité religieuse du pays et dont la personne dépositaire est inviolable et sacrée. Il continuera à présider le conseil des ministres et se réserve les domaines de la défense, de la diplomatie et de la sécurité intérieure. La principale innovation de cette réforme réside dans la désignation d’un premier ministre issu du parti « arrivé en première position » aux élections législatives et non plus nommé par le roi. Les attributions du futur chef du gouvernement seraient les suivantes : il pourrait nommer les principaux responsables de l’administration et serait consulté avant toute dissolution du Parlement. Les Marocains de la diaspora seraient aussi représentés dans cette assemblée. Le berbère deviendra officiellement la deuxième langue du royaume même si, dans son préambule, la future Constitution n’oublie pas de mentionner la primauté de la culture arabe ainsi que les racines juives et andalouses du pays. L’inscription dans la Constitution des principes des droits de l’homme (la présomption d’innocence, la liberté d’opinion, la lutte contre les discriminations, le droit d’accès à l’information…) et l’indépendance de la justice ont également été annoncées par le roi du Maroc. Apparemment soucieux d’un mouvement transnational en quête de réformes et de plus de libertés individuelles, le roi engage sa révolution tranquille en l’adaptant au particularisme marocain.

La pression des mouvements de révolte dans le monde arabe avait conduit, le 9 mars dernier, Mohammed VI à annoncer une réforme de la politique marocaine. La dernière révision de la Constitution remonte à 1996, du temps d’Hassan II. Si l’on en croit Lahcen Daoudi, le président du Parti justice et développement, « tout est relatif mais si on compare avec la révision de 1996, c’est un pas de géant ».

Libye : le régime de Kadhafi dénonce une nouvelle bavure de l’OTAN

LEMONDE.FR avec AFP / 20.06.11

Un raid aérien de l’OTAN mené lundi à l’ouest de Tripoli a fait quinze victimes civiles, dont trois enfants, selon les autorités libyennes. L’Alliance atlantique, après avoir nié l’attaque dans un premier temps, affirme pour sa part avoir visé une cible militaire.

Ce raid a visé une résidence d’un vieux compagnon de route du leader Mouammar Kadhafi, selon un responsable du régime, qui a précisé que celle-ci avait été “touchée par huit missiles”. Le porte-parole du régime, Moussa Ibrahim, présent sur les lieux, a dénoncé “un acte terroriste et lâche, qui ne peut être justifié”.

Un journaliste de l’AFP, emmené sur place avec d’autres correspondants de la presse internationale, a constaté que plusieurs bâtiments avaient été détruits. Il a ensuite été conduit à l’hôpital de Sabratha, à une dizaine de kilomètres de Sorman, où il a vu neuf corps entiers, dont celui de deux enfants, et des morceaux d’autres cadavres, dont celui d’une enfant.

Après l’avoir nié, l’OTAN a admis dans l’après-midi avoir mené un raid à Sorman. Des avions ont effectué un “raid de précision” tôt lundi matin contre un “centre de commandement et de contrôle de haut niveau”, a indiqué l’Alliance atlantique.

“ERREUR DANS LE SYSTÈME”

Ce week-end, l’Alliance atlantique a déjà reconnu deux “bavures” en Libye à un moment où la légitimité de son intervention reste contestée et où elle stagne sur le terrain. Dimanche, elle a admis avoir tué par erreur des civils lors d’une frappe nocturne à Tripoli, dans laquelle neuf personnes, dont cinq membres d’une même famille, sont mortes. Elle a expliqué qu’elle visait “un site militaire de missiles”, mais qu'”une erreur dans le système […] peut avoir fait un certain nombre de victimes civiles”.

Depuis le début de son intervention en Libye, l’Alliance a effectué quelque quinze cents sorties. Chacune a été “préparée et exécutée avec un grand soin pour éviter les victimes civiles”, s’est défendue dimanche l’OTAN, que M. Ibrahim a au contraire accusée de commettre des actes “barbares” en visant “délibérément des civils”.

Tchad: La filière coton-textile-confection en zone CEEAC

Par Journaldutchad.com, Xinhua / 21/06/2011

Elle fait l’objet d’une réflexion qui réunira aussi des représentants des organisations africaines d’appui au secteur du coton

Avec l’appui du Centre du commerce international (ITC), organisme de coopération technique de la Conférence des Nations Unies sur le commerce et le développement (CNUCED), un atelier de validation de la stratégie de développement de la filière coton-textile-confection en zone CEEAC commence ce mardi 21 juin à Douala au Cameroun. Autour des participants du Cameroun, du Burundi, de la République centrafricaine (RCA), du Tchad et de la République démocratique du Congo (RDC), cinq pays de la Communauté économique des Etats de l’Afrique centrale (CEEAC), cette réflexion réunira aussi des représentants des organisations africaines d’appui au secteur du coton.

Y pendront part également, des experts du coton de la région, de l’Union économique et monétaire ouest-africaine (UEMOA) et des institutions internationales spécialisées dans le coton, mentionne en outre le texte publié par le Groupement inter-patronal du Cameroun (Gicam), basé à Douala, la métropole économique camerounaise. L’intérêt de cet atelier est à la hauteur de l’importance du coton dans les pays d’Afrique centrale producteurs de coton. En effet, le coton représente 31% du PIB (produit intérieur brut) de la sous-région CEEAC et 9% de ses exportations. Le secteur a connu, dans un passé récent, une grande crise due principalement à la baisse du prix du coton sur le marché mondial et aux subventions accordées par les pays développés à leurs producteurs, indique le Gicam.

De cette crise a résulté une baisse importante de la production du coton dans les pays de la région. Dans le cadre de la politique de lutte contre la pauvreté, les dirigeants des pays ont pris la décision de relancer activement la culture du coton et d’en améliorer la qualité, de créer de nouveaux emplois par la transformation et de rendre le produit compétitif sur les marché régional et international, précise l’organisation. Organisé dans le cadre du Programme Tous ACP (Afrique-Caraïbes- Pacifique) relatif aux produits de base agricoles de l’Union européenne (UE), l’atelier concourt à valider les objectifs et les actions à mener en réponse aux nouveaux enjeux de la filière et à identifier les acteurs et partenaires clés afin de valider la cadre logique d’intervention pour l’aide nationale, régionale et internationale.

UN/AFRICA:

West Africa drugs trade going the way of Mexico: UN

Tue Jun 21, 2011 /By David Lewis/ Reuters

DAKAR (Reuters) – The drugs trade in West Africa is going the way of Mexico, with local players increasingly taking control of an ever more sophisticated system to smuggle cocaine into the rich market to the north, the United Nations said.

The amount of cocaine bound for Europe seized in West Africa has dropped in recent years, but that only means the trade is getting more sophisticated, said Alexandre Schmidt, West African head of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

“It means there has been a repositioning of the drug routes and the drug traffickers have much more sophisticated means and they are using more routes,” he said at a meeting in Senegal.

The flow of cocaine through West Africa’s fragile states to Europe has shot up the international law enforcement agenda, with experts warning the trade risks corrupting states, spreading instability and crippling the region’s economies.

At around $800 million, the value of the drugs passing through West Africa in 2009 was equivalent to large chunks of the economies of some countries in the region.

A few hundred Latin Americans still dominate decision-making in the trade, but West Africans have increasingly influential roles, Schmidt said.

“This is a new tendency, and what we are seeing in West Africa is like what we saw in Mexico,” he said, citing the way in which Mexicans increasingly displaced Colombians in the ferrying of Andean cocaine to the United States.

Concern over the trade has been deepened by fears that al Qaeda’s North African wing had established itself as a player in the trans-Sahara trade, especially after a jet believed to have ferried cocaine was found in the desert.

Schmidt said the role of Islamist group, which has also earned money through collecting multi-million dollar ransom payments for kidnapped Westerners, was still more that of a local fixer than a central organiser.

“The terrorists are facilitating the passage of the traffickers … and they receive a payment, either in cash or kind. But we don’t have any proof that the terrorist groups are organising the drug trafficking themselves,” he said.

Citing the arrest of American Prohibition-era gangster Al Capone for tax evasion, Schmidt called on nations to do more to fight illegal finance, especially money-laundering.

“If we want to have a real impact on drug traffickers … we need to hit them where it hurts — on the money,” he said.

Libya takes case against NATO to UN, others

Pana /21/06/2011

.LIBYA NEWS – Affirming that NATO was committing serious acts of genocide in its bombing of Libya, the Secretary of the Libyan General People’s Committee, Baghdadi Mahmoudi, on Sunday complained bitterly to a number international organizations and figures. The complaint was sent to the President of the 65th session of the UN General Assembly, its Secretary-General, the President of the current session of UN Security Council, the Presidents of the European Parliament, the European Commission, the African Commission, the Council of the Russian Duma, the Council of the People of China, the US Senate and Congress as well as some US senators. The message, which was also sent to the Foreign Minister of Russia, the Russian President’s emissary in Libya, highlighted the serious violations committed by NATO against the Libyan people.

Mahmoudi accused NATO of perpetrating a collective genocide through the bombing of innocent civilians and civilian sites, residential areas and basic infrastructure in Libya.

PANA reports that NATO war planes Sunday at dawn bombed a residential district in the area of Souk Al-Jumaa (eastern suburb of Tripoli), killing nine people, including five members of the same family, and wounding 18 others.

The Libyan official called on the international organizations and bodies as well as Parliaments worldwide to intervene immediately to stop the violations and assault by NATO, which, he said, ‘is committed today in a new phase of destruction of residential areas, as part of the operation of collective genocide and crime against humanity through the intimidation of peaceful civilians beyond the mandate of 1970-1973 resolutions of the UN Security Council.’

NATO, however, admitted bombing a residential district of Tripoli and of causing civilian casualties.

The commander of NATO operations in Libya, General Charles Bouchard, declared that a ‘technical failure caused civilian casualties,’ stressing at NATO was ‘still investigating the incident’.

Expanded midwifery services could save millions of lives – UN

20 June 2011 / www.un.org

– Up to 3.6 million deaths could be avoided each year in 58 developing countries if midwifery services are upgraded, according to a report released today by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and partners.

The study, The State of the World’s Midwifery 2011, estimates that an additional 112,000 midwives need to be deployed in 38 countries to meet their target to achieve 95 per cent coverage of births by skilled attendants by 2015, as required under the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Globally, 350,000 midwives are still lacking, it says.

The report, launched at the Triennial Congress of the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) Durban, South Africa, says if adequate facilities were accessible to deal with complications at their onset, many deaths could be averted: 61 per cent of all maternal deaths; 49 per cent of all stillbirths; and three in every five newborn deaths.

The report adds that if midwives are in place and can refer the most severe complications to specialized care, up to 90 per cent of maternal deaths could be prevented.

“Ensuring that every woman and her newborn have access to quality midwifery services demands that we take bold steps to build on what we have achieved so far across communities, countries, regions and the world,” said Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations, in his foreword to the report.

Each year, 358,000 women die while pregnant or giving birth, some two million newborns die within the first 24 hours of life and there are 2.6 million stillbirths, it says.

“The report points to an urgent need to train more health workers with midwifery skills and ensure equitable access to their life-saving services in communities to improve the health of women and children,” said Babatunde Osotimehin, Executive Director of UNFPA.

UNFPA supports midwifery training programmes in 30 countries, including, for example, some 18 schools in Ethiopia. A UNFPA official said the agency will integrate the report’s findings in its current curricula and plans an expansion of UN midwifery training programs.

The report, a result of collaboration among 30 partners, including the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO), surveyed 58 countries, which together account for just under 60 per cent of births worldwide and yet 91 per cent of all maternal deaths.

Among the 38 countries most desperately in need of midwives, 22 need to double the workforce by 2015; seven need to triple or quadruple it; and nine – Cameroon, Chad, Ethiopia, Guinea, Haiti, Niger, Sierra Leone, Somalia and Sudan – need to dramatically scale up midwifery by a factor of between six and 15, it says.

The UN coaxes the world toward universal gay rights

From Tuesday’s Globe and Mail /Published Monday, Jun. 20, 2011

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was a post-war, post-Holocaust attempt to recognize and protect the dignity inherent in all individuals. But the dream it embodies has never been widely extended to homosexuals. Now, more than 60 years later, a UN body has finally noticed, and spoken up.

Prodded by South Africa, which dared to challenge the rest of the continent, the UN Human Rights Council (a body that seems saner since it kicked out despotic Libya, which had chaired the council) has asserted that individuals should not be subject to discrimination or violence based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. The resolution, passed 23 to 19 with three abstentions, said it was not seeking to “impose values,” but to start a dialogue that would help bring about an end to such discrimination and violence. Predictably, other African countries pilloried South Africa for siding with the West, but South Africa was eloquent in reply – when some of its people were unjustly imprisoned during the apartheid years, the anti-apartheid movement received moral and political support from all over the world, and did not reject support based on sexual orientation.

The resolution went on to oblige the UN Commission on Human Rights to report back on anti-gay policies internationally, and to set the stage for a discussion next year.

No, none of this is legally binding, but that’s not the point. The Universal Declaration wasn’t legally binding, either, but several important legal instruments followed, and the world advanced.

Russia did not do itself proud by standing apart from Europe and siding with Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Uganda against the resolution. Nor did China, which claims to want some moral sway in the world, by abstaining alongside Burkina Faso and Zambia.

Like the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Universal Declaration doesn’t expressly mention sexual orientation – but some day, the world may read it in. That day won’t come soon, though. In Kenya this week, the new chief justice was asked if he is gay – he wears an ear stud, and gay sex is punishable by up to 14 years in prison. This past weekend, in eastern European capitals Zagreb, Sofia and Budapest, riot police were needed to protect small gay pride parades. But thanks to South Africa and others, this subject will continue to speak its name.

US/AFRICA:

Fight Over Africa Mounts Between U.S. and China .

Monday, 20 June 2011 /www.blackvoicenews.com

Special to the NNPA from the Global Information Network –

The daggers are starting to come out between the U.S. and China as the Asian giant displaces the U.S. as Africa’s number one trading partner.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, at a recent forum on trade in Zambia, made slighting references to China’s growing African role.

“We are concerned that China’s foreign assistance and investment practices in Africa have not always been consistent with generally accepted international norms of transparency and good governance,” she said. “(China) has not always utilized the talents of the African people in pursuing its business interests.”

“It is easy to come in, take out natural resources, pay off leaders and leave. And, when you leave, you don’t leave much behind for the people who are there,” Clinton continued. “You don’t improve the standard of living. You don’t create a ladder of opportunity. We don’t want to see a new colonialism in Africa.”

But an editorial in the state-run English-language China Daily newspaper took issue with Secretary Clinton, pointing out that China had never colonized any nation in Africa. “On the contrary, it is well known to African people and the world that China has helped Africa build many schools, hospitals and other infrastructure, which has benefited many African people.

“China has also been regularly reducing and canceling the debt of poor African countries and continues to provide preferential loans and credit support for them,” the piece titled “Africa Ties Benefit Both” said.

In a final one-two punch, the state-run newspaper added that African people were wise enough to be able to identify their true friends, writing: “They don’t need lectures in this regard.”

Official visit: U.S. First Lady arrives in Africa to fly the flag for Obama’s re-election

21 Jun 2011 /Reuters

WASHINGTON — United States First Lady Michelle Obama arrived in Pretoria last night for her first official visit to southern Africa, with the aim to advance U.S. policies on education, health, and democracy.

This is her second official solo journey abroad after her trip to Mexico.

The first lady will make stops in Johannesburg and Cape Town. Later in the week she will visit Botswana. While short on measurable outcomes, her trip will be rich with imagery.

As the wife of the first black U.S. president, her travel on the continent adds a different symbolic heft than previous first ladies’ trips there have had.

In South Africa she will meet Graça Machel, the wife of former South African President Nelson Mandela.

She will also visit Robben Island, where Mandela was imprisoned under apartheid.

In Botswana she will meet President Ian Khama and women leaders and visit a nature reserve.

Her trip comes as the U.S. starts gearing up for the 2012 presidential election. President Obama’s party, the Democrats, this week stepped up its fundraising ahead of the 2012 contest for the White House. Obama hopes to hold on to the White House in the 2013 election. Pictures of Michelle Obama in Africa could appear in the campaign to appeal to black voters, a critical voting bloc for Obama’s Democrats.

White House officials said her visit would advance her husband’s foreign policy goals.

“This trip by the first lady is very directly connected to the president’s agenda in Africa and the Obama administration’s foreign policy in Africa,” Ben Rhodes, Obama’s deputy national security adviser, told reporters last week.

“It’s no coincidence that she would be visiting countries that have embraced democracy, [and] in many respects have shown that not only does their democracy deliver for its citizens, but it can provide a positive example for the neighbourhood that these countries are in as well.”

She is joined on this trip by her two daughters, Sasha and Malia, and her mother.

New Challenges for the US in Africa from Europe

By Scott A Morgan/ www.modernghana.com/21062011

It has been said that Nations do not have Allies but that they have interests. They could be access to economic resources, home to ethnic groups that have close ties to their respective governments or Political Alliances.

Within the last week two papers were released. One covered a void left by one European state. The Other Paper was a revelation of what their Policy will be towards Africa. The Paper discussing the void covers the Russian Federation the European Power revealing its new strategy is Germany.

A Recent Paper released by the Russian Foreign Ministry stated that “the policy of developing traditionally friendly relations with Africa and cooperation on mutual interest provided the opportunity to use the African factor in such a way as to make progress on our international interests and economic goals.” It is for Economic Reasons that Russia has opposed the efforts of the United States in recent crises in both Sudan and in Ivory Coast.

The Russians along with China have invested heavily in the Petroleum Industry in Sudan. This means that the upcoming split of Sudan will create uncertainty for Russia. It has been suggested that Russia has a goal of creating cartels with Key African oil and gas producers in order to control access that other nations will have to the Oil and Gas Industries.

The Bundesrepublik revealed in a 29 page paper that it will take a tougher approach to how it spends Aid in Africa. The paper states that “Value for Money” and garnering better market access for German companies are key goals for its policy towards Africa. The problem of irregular Migration from Africa to Germany is listed as something that is to be prevented.

The German Government will seek to stress its own values in Africa. These values include good governance and democracy and the Country wishes that the 32 Nations that currently use Capital Punishment will end the use of it, end restrictive laws against Homosexuality and push for greater Rights for Women.

In recent years Germany has been very vocal in its criticism of the Sudanese Government when it comes to Darfur.

For economic reason both of the Countries will present themselves as a viable partner for those who seek to limit the influence of the United States. This is not a statement of wishful thinking or hope but one of fact. Some of the Inactions taken by the United States such as in Rwanda during the Genocide and the flip flops that occurred during the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt give the impression that the US is not reliable.

So it appears that Oil and Conflict Minerals may be the bases of any future potential diplomatic tiffs that Washington may have with Berlin and Moscow when it comes to Africa. All three have worked together in the Horn of Africa combating Piracy but there are several potential areas that could lead to potential problems such as West Africa.

The Author Comments on US Policy towards Africa and publishes Confused Eagle on the Internet. It can be found at confusedeagle.livejournal.com

The Root: First Lady’s African Trip Not A Vacation

by Cynthia Gordy /www.npr.org/June 21, 2011

Cynthia Gordy is The Root’s Washington reporter.

Whether speaking to students in Mexico, Brazil, the U.K. or Washington, D.C., first lady Michelle Obama has always focused on leadership, encouraging young people to excel academically, serve their communities and know that they control their destinies. Reflecting her own personal story, it’s an inspirational and sometimes emotional message that Mrs. Obama will revisit this week during her visit to South Africa and Botswana. But the trip will involve more than her first lady platform. The Obama administration says it’s also designed to advance the president’s Africa agenda.

“The president has tried to make it clear that he has an agenda centered around young people and African capacity building instead of simply the provision of assistance,” Ben Rhodes, deputy national security adviser for strategic communications, told reporters during a White House conference call previewing the first lady’s trip. “That capacity building is best focused on empowering democratic models, like South Africa and Botswana, [as well as] health, education and civil society more broadly.”

Accordingly, Mrs. Obama’s schedule includes activities that dovetail with her husband’s policy priorities, including meetings with the presidents of both countries. “This is a very important trip for Michelle Obama to take, and it’s huge for southern Africa,” Nicole C. Lee, president of the TransAfrica Forum, told The Root. “It shows the development of civil society in Africa, and how people are really pushing the margins right now and holding their governments accountable. To have the first lady involved in that is really monumental.”

Michelle Obama — joined by her mother, Marian Robinson, daughters Malia and Sasha Obama, and niece and nephew Leslie and Avery Robinson — touched down in South Africa on Monday. Here are the highlights to look out for in the coming week.

African Democracy

“It’s no coincidence that [the first lady] would be visiting countries that have embraced democracy, and have shown that not only does their democracy deliver for its citizens but it can provide a positive example for the neighborhood that these countries are in as well,” said Rhodes, adding that we share a common interest with Africa. “The United States will be more secure when Africa’s more secure,” he said.

Rhodes said that the administration has also supported democracy in Africa by getting involved in Southern Sudan’s vote to secede from Sudan, and supporting the U.N. resolution against President Laurent Gbagbo of Côte d’Ivoire during the country’s violent unrest. Lee, however, takes issue with the extent of the administration’s efforts.

“When there’s been conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Ivory Coast, for example, the Obama administration has not used the [military’s] U.S. Africa Command to ensure that genocide is prevented and that people are receiving humanitarian assistance,” she said.

Youth Empowerment

Mrs. Obama’s South Africa visit coincides with the 20th anniversary of the end of apartheid, and several events commemorate the fight against the brutal system of white-minority rule. In Johannesburg, Graça Machel, wife of former South African President Nelson Mandela, will guide a viewing of Mandela’s archives at the Nelson Mandela Foundation. The family will also tour Johannesburg’s Apartheid Museum and Robben Island, where Mandela was held for 18 of the 27 years he was imprisoned for his anti-apartheid and other political activities.

In Soweto, they will visit the Hector Pieterson Memorial, which honors a 12-year-old boy who was shot and killed by police during an anti-apartheid protest. Hundreds of other black schoolchildren were killed on that day — June 16, 1976 — which is now commemorated annually as Youth Day. The role of young people in the eventual dismantling of apartheid further underscores the first lady’s theme of youth empowerment.

“There was a time when it was seen as impossible for apartheid to ever be abolished,” said Lee. “It was an accepted mainstay, and it took regular people to change that — in Africa and all over the world. Regular people can also change things today by looking to themselves and their own communities.”

The first lady will also deliver the keynote address to the Young African Women Leaders Forum in Soweto and meet with students from poor communities during a campus tour of the University of Cape Town. But Lee is wary of the overall message’s substance.

“It’s important to talk about empowerment, but what are we empowering them to do?” said Lee, who criticized the Obama administration for not focusing enough on the lack of jobs in Africa and for continuing policies that allow corporations to take land rights from farmers. “We can’t get lost in notions of empowerment when we really need to be talking about brass tacks and the basic needs for building their countries.”

Global Health

In both South Africa and Botswana, the first lady will meet with organizations dedicated to fighting HIV/AIDS through innovative methods. In Cape Town, she’ll do soccer drills with an organization that uses the sport as a health education tool. In Gaborone, Botswana, she’ll visit youth leaders at a children’s clinic who educate their teenage peers about the disease. In the face of criticism from global AIDS groups that the Obama administration has not provided enough new funding for antiretroviral drugs, Rhodes defended their commitment.

“We have actually increased resources for HIV/AIDS,” said Rhodes, who added that they have nested their HIV/AIDS work under a broader global health initiative that includes malaria, maternal health and other issues. “Our analysis was that it was necessary to fight HIV/AIDS directly with antiviral drugs and other capabilities, but what was really going to make the game-changing difference in the long run was building up African public health systems.”

Rhodes explained that this broader approach includes empowering successful models, such as the programs that Mrs. Obama will highlight on her trip, that other health officials around the continent can learn from and replicate. “The first lady’s emphasis on health is very much in line with our theory of building African capacity, just as her focus on HIV/AIDS is around things like awareness and education, which are necessary to reduce the rates of infection and eventually eliminate the disease.”

Convergys adding 375 jobs in Clarksville

Date: Tuesday, June 21, 2011/ www.bizjournals.com

Nashville Business Journal

Convergys Corp. Convergys Corp. Follow this company is hiring for up to 375 jobs at its call center operations in Clarksville.

According to a company press release, Cincinnati-based Convergys (NYSE: CVG) is looking for 300 on-site employees and 75 work-at-home employees. The new jobs would provide customer service support to a client in the telecommunications industry.

Convergys operates 68 customer contact centers and other facilities in the United States, Canada, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

CANADA/AFRICA:

Canadian farm leaders endorse Call for Coherence

© AgMedia Inc./ by SUSAN MANN/ www.betterfarming.com/June 20, 2011

The joint declaration calls on governments to acknowledge the importance of food security

Canadian farm leaders have joined a worldwide coalition of farm groups in calling for international trade rules to allow enough policy space for countries to meet their food security objectives.

Canada’s dairy, poultry and egg farmers joined the coalition of farm groups from 66 countries in Africa, the Americans, Asia and Europe to endorse a document called Call for Coherence. It’s a joint declaration adopted in Brussels, Belgium, on Monday by the international farm groups. It calls on governments and parliaments to acknowledge the importance of food security and the unique role agriculture and food play in trade agreements.

During a telephone press conference Monday organized by Canada’s dairy, poultry and egg sectors, David Fuller, Chicken Farmers of Canada president, said they’re questioning how simply opening markets and industry deregulation impacts farmers who produce the world’s food. Coalition leaders also question if that’s really the best way forward.

Farm leaders who endorsed the Call for Coherence declaration say improved coherence is needed between the agricultural industry and negotiators of world trade or other international agreements, such as ones to reduce worldwide hunger or poverty or ones that make commitments to address climate change and biodiversity.

“Trade liberalization for the sake of liberalization is like a race to the bottom,” Fuller says. It can’t address some of the other internationally important issues, such as peoples’ right to decent work, adequate income, suitable living conditions and enough food. “These issues need to be taken into account when negotiating trade deals.”

The Canadian farm group leaders were in Brussels Monday for the launch of the Call for Coherence declaration. It comes on the eve of the G20 agriculture ministers’ meeting in Paris.

AUSTRALIA/AFRICA:

More questions over network

June 21, 2011. /www.smh.com.au/ Lenore Taylor

THE Gillard government will ask the ABC and the part-Murdoch owned Sky News Australia for more information about their ability to cover new global hotspots in Africa and the Middle East before finally awarding the $223 million contract to broadcast the Australia Network.

The extra information could mean a temporary extension to the ABC’s existing contract – which expires on August 8 – to run the service.

The politically-sensitive decision on the 10-year tender will be made by the secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Dennis Richardson, but he will act on advice from his minister, Kevin Rudd, and the cabinet, after it receives the additional information from the two bidders.

Advertisement: Story continues below The cabinet is understood to have decided that international developments since the tender specifications were written meant it needed extra facts.

The ABC and Sky have been lobbying intensively for the deal, which the ABC first won in 2005.

But as the cabinet wrestles with the sensitive political in-terests involved (the ABC would have to shed jobs if it loses the contract and Sky is a joint venture between Channel Nine, Channel Seven and British Sky Broadcasting), months have passed since the original May 2 deadline for a decision.

Sources said Mr Rudd, most of the cabinet and senior members of the caucus have been following the decision-making process very closely.

Lib MP explains role in warship meeting

From: AAP/ June 21, 2011

QUEENSLAND Liberal MP Peter Slipper has sought to explain his role in attempting to organise a meeting to further sales of Australian-made warships.

He says his only role in this international arms deal was to attempt to arrange a meeting between Australia’s defence minister and Morocco’s navy chief.

This all relates to Mr Slipper’s recent 43-day study tour of Europe and North Africa which included a visit to Morocco, to whom Australian shipbuilder Austal is trying to sell patrol boats.

In a personal explanation to parliament, he said he had never claimed to have had any contact with the Defence Department on this matter.

He said in Morocco he met representatives of Austrade and West Australia-based Austal which manufactured the Armidale-class patrol boats used by the Australian navy.

Mr Slipper said he was advised of a pending visit to Australia by the Moroccan navy chief Admiral Mohamed Laghmari who hoped to meet Defence Minister Stephen Smith.

“Upon return to Australia I spoke with the minister. During the visit to Australia by the Moroccan chief of navy I was advised by Austrade that the meeting with the minister may not take place, possibly as the admiral’s dates of travel had changed,” he said.

Mr Slipper said he was then advised that Admiral Mohamed Laghmari would like to meet Mr Smith in Sydney and then contacted the minister’s chief of staff to see if a meeting could be arranged.

“As it turned out it was not possible,” he said.

“All I have claimed is that I have endeavoured to facilitate a meeting between the Moroccan chief of navy and the minister for defence which would have been extremely useful.”

Some refugees in Australia sending welfare payments abroad

John Masanauskas From: Herald Sun /June 22, 2011

SOME refugees in Australia are sending welfare payments abroad as part of a multi-billion-dollar industry to help relatives in poor countries.

A report commissioned by the Immigration Department says that many recent arrivals from Africa fear losing social respect if they do not send cash home.

Using World Bank data, the report estimated that up to $6 billion flows out of Australia each year in payments to people overseas. It said that a survey of humanitarian arrivals showed that 70 per cent had sent money home.

For Africans, it was not unusual to send up to 20 per cent of their weekly incomes to families.

The average amount was $200 a month and each refugee was supporting about five people back home.

Report author Prof Graeme Hugo, an Adelaide University demographer, said yesterday that many refugees and other humanitarian entrants were making big sacrifices.

“In some cases, people are obviously doing without things in order to be able to support families at home,” he said.

“It’s predominantly supporting close family, which in other circumstances would be with them, so there’s a very strong feeling of obligation that many have.”

Prof Hugo’s report said that a study of Somalian and Ethiopian refugees in Melbourne and Adelaide had revealed the overwhelming majority sent money home, despite almost one in five being on the dole and 42 per cent earning less than $20,000 a year.

More than half said they did it to maintain their family’s wellbeing, but “a significant number (22.4 per cent) felt they would lose social respect if they didn’t send money”, the report said.

Swinburne University migration expert Dr Katharine Betts said she was astonished by the scale of the payments leaving Australia.

“It might be a concern that taxpayers’ money was being channelled in this direction,” she said.

“I would worry about the welfare of families that felt an obligation to support people overseas when they were struggling here.”

Prof Hugo said that humanitarian arrivals made a significant contribution to Australia and the Federal Government should consider making it easier for them to send money to relatives abroad.

“Anything that countries like Australia can do to facilitate that sending back of finances can potentially have good development impacts in the origin country,” he said.

AusQuest Ltd – New deeper high-grade gold hits in West Africa

Tuesday , 21 Jun 2011 /www.mineweb.com

AusQuest Limited (ASX: AQD) is pleased to advise that it has received further high-grade gold results from diamond drilling at its Comoe Joint Venture in Burkina Faso, West Africa, with the latest results confirming the presence of high gold grades at depth within the mineralised system at Phaco Hill.

The latest results, including 6m @ 8.5g/t Au (KPHD014) and 3m @ 9.66g/t Au (KPHD011), indicate that high gold grades continue to depths of at least 200 metres at Phaco South and 120 metres at Phaco North.

These results continue to support the presence of a large VMS gold system at Phaco Hill containing high-grade gold shoots which extend to depth.

Drill holes KPHD 013 and 014, which were sited to test ~100 metres below previously reported intersections in drill-holes KPHD06 and 07 (4m @ 2.84g/t Au and 13.8 m @ 2.89g/t Au), show the variability of gold grades at this drill-hole spacing but confirm the presence of high gold grades (6m @ 8.5g/t Au) at depth.

The gold mineralisation remains poorly constrained by the limited drilling to date and is open in all directions (see Figure 1). Gold intersected continues to display a strong spatial association with significant sulphide content but is not always directly associated with the sulphide mineralisation.

Drill holes KPHD011 and 012 which were sited to test for continuity of gold mineralisation at Phaco North, returned a high-grade intercept (3m @ 9.66g/t Au) ~50 metres from hole KPHD03 which intersected 17m @ 2.4g/t Au, inferring the start of a high-grade gold shoot in this area.

The thick, low grade gold intercept in drill-hole KPHD012 (89.7m @ 0.27g/t Au) infers continuity of the same gold system to the north and at depth.

Drill hole KPHD010, which was sited to test the Phaco East prospect located approximately 200 metres east of the main gold trend, reported further thick low grade intersections but no significant high-grade gold intercepts.

Down-hole electromagnetic (DHEM) surveys continue to be undertaken in each drill-hole to help define the distribution of the sulphide mineralisation which appears to be spatially associated with the gold.

Results of the DHEM surveys continue to be processed and interpreted as each new hole is drilled and surveyed. A full assessment of these results will be made once the programme is completed.

Diamond drilling is expected to continue at the Phaco Hill prospect until early July when drilling operations will likely cease for the duration of the wet season. Assay results from this work will continue to be received up to eight weeks following completion of drilling.

The Board of AusQuest continues to be encouraged by the drilling results from Phaco Hill and looks forward to reporting further results as they become available.

EU/AFRICA:

EU planning for post-conflict Libya

2011-06-20/- AP

Luxembourg – European Union foreign ministers were trying on Monday to work out a political solution to the Libyan conflict, as well as post-war planning to ensure that Libya does not descend into chaos.

Nato, which is commanding an international campaign to protect civilians from the regime of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, has been intensifying its airstrikes on Tripoli, the Libyan capital.

But the military alliance has been forced twice in recent days to acknowledge that its strikes have gone awry, each time causing unintended casualties.

But Dutch Foreign Minister Uri Rosenthal said progress is being made.

“Gaddafi is desperate,” Rosenthal said. “We are squeezing his regime and stepping up the pressure by additional sanctions. This is a matter of patience and resolve and the Libyan people will prevail.”

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton has expressed concern about post-war stability in Libya if planning is not done and help is not rendered.

She has said a successful post-conflict period in North Africa will require what she calls the three M’s: money, market access and mobility. She wants Europe to contribute billions of euros to develop the economies of Libya, Egypt and Tunisia.

Farm groups say trade rules threaten food security

Mon Jun 20, 2011 / Reuters

BRUSSELS |

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – An international group of farm unions has called on agriculture ministers from the Group of 20 leading economies (G20) to oppose further liberalisation in global agricultural trade in order to boost food security.

G20 farm ministers meet in Paris later this week to discuss France’s push to tackle rising food prices, but limiting trade liberalisation in agricultural goods is not among the proposals up for discussion.

In a joint declaration issued on Monday, farm groups from Europe, Africa, Asia and North America defended the use of trade tariffs and production quotas by countries to secure food supplies and stabilise prices.

“We would like to send out a very clear and precise message today to the ministers of the G20 who are going to be meeting over the next few days,” Paolo Bruni, of EU farm union Copa-Cogeca, told a news briefing in Brussels.

“The World Trade Organization is not working. It’s not working because many countries believe that agriculture can be treated just like any other economic sector. The market needs rules, it cannot be left to work for itself,” Bruni said.

The declaration broadly backed France’s G20 proposals to tackle speculation on agricultural commodity markets, and limit export restrictions on humanitarian food aid.

But G20 agriculture ministers are not expected to support the farm unions’ call to oppose further liberalisation of agricultural trade in future global or bilateral agreements.

Instead, G20 farm ministers will spell out their desire to see a successful conclusion to the currently stalled Doha Round of global free trade talks, according to draft conclusions prepared for the meeting.

The World Trade Organization warned in a leaked report this month that moves to restrict farm trade could cause serious food shortages.

Global trade flows in farm products were supposed to be regulated by a single world trade accord at the WTO, but talks for such a treaty have stalled indefinitely.

(Reporting by Charlie Dunmore, additional reporting by Juliane von Reppert-Bismarck, editing by Rex Merrifield)

Bactérie E.coli: les steaks hachés à l’origine de l’épidémie

Par LEXPRESS.fr avec AFP/publié le 18/06/2011

Les analyses réalisées à partir des enquêtes alimentaires chez les familles touchées révèlent le lien entre ce lot de viande et l’infection.

La consommation de viande hachée de la marque Steak Country est bien à l’origine de la grave intoxication alimentaire par une bactérie E.coli qui a touché sept enfants dans le nord de la France. Les résultats des analyses pratiqués sur des échantillons de steak et rendus public lundi confirment les soupçons qui pesaient sur la marque.

“Les souches virulentes retrouvées dans les analyses faites sur les enfants ont été également isolées lors de l’analyse des échantillons de steaks, dont la souche E. coli O 157”, selon le ministère de la Santé.

Sept hospitalisations

Sept enfants du nord de la France tombés malades – dont un dans un état grave -, après avoir consommé de la viande surgelée restaient hospitalisés samedi à Lille dans un état “stable” ou en amélioration. Ils auraient été contaminés par une bactérie E.coli dont l’origine demeure inconnue.

Agés de 18 mois à huit ans, ces enfants, originaires du Nord et de l’Oise, sont soignés au CHU de Lille pour des diarrhées hémorragiques et des insuffisances rénales vraisemblablement liées à la consommation de steaks hachés surgelés contaminés par une bactérie E.coli.

Trois ont été placés sous dialyse péritonéale – dialyse qui élimine les déchets que les reins ne parviennent plus à épurer – et trois autres subissent des traitements plus légers. Leur état général est “stable” ou en nette amélioration, ont indiqué samedi les médecins au cours d’une conférence de presse.

D’eux d’entre eux sont sorti de l’hôpital ce lundi.

Un enfant de 2 ans plongé dans le coma

L’état de santé de l’enfant le plus sérieusement atteint, un petit garçon de deux ans originaire de l’Oise plongé dans le coma, a également montré une “légère amélioration” ce week-end. Son état était stable en début de semaine.

“Il n’y a ni amélioration ni dégradation. Il reste sous ventilation artificielle et sous dialyse” explique le porte-parole du CHU de Lille.

“Cet enfant a reçu un traitement un peu particulier, spécifique à cette maladie. C’est peut-être ce traitement qui commence à faire effet”, a confié le professeur Francis Leclerc, chef du service de réanimation pédiatrique du CHU de Lille.

“Il est toujours dans le coma, mais un peu plus réactif”, a-t-il affirmé, tout en soulignant que son coma était “essentiellement lié à sa maladie”, et non à l’administration de sédatifs, synonyme de coma artificiel, contrairement à ce qu’avaient annoncé les médecins dans un premier temps.

Souche distincte de celle qui a fait 39 morts en Europe

Un huitième enfant, une fillette de 7 ans originaire de Valenciennes, a été hospitalisée vendredi soir pour des symptômes de contamination bactérienne.

Mais sa mère affirme qu’elle n’a pas mangé de steaks hachés surgelés. Elle ferait donc partie, d’après les médecins, des cas ordinaires habituellement enregistrés hors épidémie.

Selon l’Agence régionale de santé (ARS) du Nord-Pas-de-Calais, six des huit enfants hospitalisés présentent la même souche “E.coli 0157”, distincte de la souche bactérienne “O104:H4” qui a fait 39 morts en Europe, dont 38 en Allemagne.

S’agissant des deux cas suspects évoqués vendredi par le ministre de la Santé Xavier Bertrand – un jeune adulte de Valenciennes et un enfant de dix ans de Marcq-en-Baroeul, près de Lille – les “résultats des analyses ne sont pas encore connus”, a précisé Daniel Lenoir, directeur général de l’ARS.

E.coli : deux enfants sortis de l’hôpital

Par Europe1.fr avec AFP/Publié le 20 juin 2011

Après la sortie d’un premier enfant de l’hôpital dimanche, un deuxième a pu rentrer chez lui lundi, après avoir été hospitalisé à Lille pour contamination par une bactérie E.coli. Un garçonnet de deux ans reste, lui, dans le coma et dans un état stationnaire, a annoncé lundi le CHU.

“De façon générale, l’état de santé des enfants s’améliore au point de vue hématologique (bilan sanguin)”, a indiqué une porte-parole du CHU, alors qu’il reste six enfants hospitalisés.

E.coli des steaks surgelés: quatre enfants restent hospitalisés à Lille

Publié le 21-06-11 /tempsreel.nouvelobs.com

RéagirLILLE (AP) — Trois des huit enfants soignés à Lille pour une intoxication alimentaire à l’E.coli ont pu rentrer chez eux et un quatrième devrait sortir également ce mardi, a annoncé l’hôpital. Les autres jeunes patients restent, eux, hospitalisés et pour l’un d’entre eux le pronostic vital est “réservé”.

Ces huit enfants, âgés de 20 mois à huit ans, ont été victimes d’un syndrome hémolytique et urémique (SHU), complication d’une infection liée à un type rare de bactérie Escherichia coli. Les autorités sanitaires imputent ces cas groupés à du boeuf surgelé de marque “Steaks Country” acheté chez Lidl.

Six de ces petits malades avaient en effet mangé des steaks hachés surgelés, selon l’Agence régionale de santé (ARS) du Nord-Pas-de-Calais. Pour cinq d’entre eux, la viande était estampillée “Steaks Country”, la marque distributeur des magasins Lidl.

Le lot suspect, affichant une date limite de consommation au 11 mai 2012, avait été produit par la boucherie Seb à Saint-Dizier (Haute-Marne). La chaîne de supermarchés Lidl a retiré de ses rayons tous les lots provenant de ce fournisseur.

D’après un point de situation réalisé par le Centre hospitalier régional universitaire (CHRU) de Lille, un jeune patient est sorti dimanche, deux autres lundi et un quatrième devrait faire de même ce mardi. En revanche, quatre enfants demeurent hospitalisés.

Trois d’entre eux restent sous dialyse en pédiatrie au CHRU de Lille, qui assure que “leur état est stable”. Un autre est soigné en réanimation pédiatrique: il est “dans le coma, sous ventilation artificielle et sous hémodialyse” et “son pronostic vital reste réservé”. Ce petit patient de deux ans, originaire de l’Oise, souffre d’une atteinte neurologique, selon les informations données précédemment par les médecins.

Le SHU se manifeste surtout chez le jeune enfant. Il constitue une complication grave d’un épisode de diarrhée souvent sanglante, pouvant évoluer dans 10% des cas vers une anémie, une baisse des plaquettes et une insuffisance rénale.

L’ARS Nord-Pas-de-Calais a reçu le signalement de ces cas groupés de SHU mardi dernier, le 14 juin. Dès le jeudi suivant, l’Agence régionale de santé écartait tout lien avec l’épidémie d’E.coli allemande. “Nous avons maintenant la certitude que ce n’est pas la même souche que celle qui a été identifiée sur les graines germées en Allemagne”, a déclaré son directeur Daniel Lenoir.

La bactérie E.coli entérohémorragique (ECEH) a tué 40 personnes en Europe (39 en Allemagne et une en Suède), selon le bilan établi lundi l’institut allemand Robert-Koch. Les autorités sanitaires ont imputé cette épidémie à des graines germées produites dans une ferme biologique de Bienenbüttel, en Basse-Saxe. AP

cb/com/mw

Diageo CMO says brands need to go local in emerging markets

Tue, 21 Jun 2011 / By MaryLou Costa /www.marketingweek.co.uk

.Cannes: Strategies for emerging markets need to become more grass-roots and locally oriented, Diageo chief marketing officer Andy Fennell told an audience at the Cannes Lions Festival.

Fennell said emerging markets currently represent a third of the drinks giant’s business today but in three to four years they are expected to reach 50%.

He said that opportunities in markets such as China and Africa include several factors, such as the amount of people each year reaching legal drinking age, increasing wealth, more economically enabled women and advancing mobile technologies.

.But to realise this growth it is essential that brands change the way they think about emerging markets, he warned. “These markets used to receive an adaptation of a brand concept created in Paris, New York or London, which used to be enough. But now they need to become the centre of our gravity so we can broaden our ideas.

“You need to go there, employ local people, and get local ideas.”

Fennell gave examples of activity in China and Africa. In Shanghai, a flagship outlet for Diageo brand Johnnie Walker called “House of Walker” was established this year. It offers exclusive purchases and ties its brand identity with the idea of progress and the Chinese appreciation of status symbols.

The brand has also worked with local celebrities such as film maker Jia Zhang Ke and video blogger Han Han.

Africa strategies have included an advertising campaign with Ethiopian Olympic marathon runner Haile Gebrselassie on the theme of “Keep Walking” to inspire consumers to reach their goals.

In Kenya, fellow Diageo brand Guinness has produced a branded football TV game show which incorporates an on pack lottery prize draw.

Johnnie Walker Red Label has also recently been made available in 200mL bottles in South Africa to acknowledge that many people can’t afford a full size bottle but still aspire to the brand.

Fennell added that another big challenge lay in measuring the effectiveness of brand activity: “How do you put a price on engagement? We need to find more accurate and contemporary ways to see if an activity works rather than wait to see if a product sells more.”

Wowbean director Paul Evans returns agency-side with role at AYMTM

Magda Ibrahim , /www.citmagazine.com/ 21 June 2011

Wowbean director Paul Evans will end his role representing DMCs Incent India and Green Route Africa at the end of June.

Evans is set to join AYMTM as its director of events in August after almost two years running Wowbean. AYMTM has also appointed Mike Parrott as director of motivation and communication.

Restructure

Evans set up the representation agency in September 2009 after leaving his role as head of marketing at Lynton Cooper as the agency underwent a restructure and rebrand in March 2009.

Lynton Cooper was integrated with sister agency Eclipse Conference Management and rebranded as W&O Events from 31 March 2009.

At odds

Evans said: “My decision to change is a little at odds with the success achieved with Wowbean and the superb relationships I’ve enjoyed with Incent India and the Dragonfly Africa Group.

“However, in simple terms, I have missed working as part of a team, elements of corporate life and being more central to the events industry.”

Unexpected opportunity

He added he will be moving to an events agency to be announced shortly after an “opportunity unexpectedly approached”.

Incent India and Green Route Africa – part of the Dragonfly Africa Group – have been represented by Evans since he launched Wowbean in September 2009.

Pro-active approach

Dragonfly Africa executive chairman Rupert Jeffries said: “All of us at the Dragonfly Africa Group are very sad to say farewell to Paul. We believe that the pro-active approach that Paul applied has benefited us in growing business from this market to Southern and East Africa.”

All UK enquiries will be handled by UK representative David Dodgeon.

Meanwhile, Incent India managing director P N Nageshwaran added: “While we are sad to see Paul leave, Team Incent wishes him every success with his new career plans and looks forward to exciting times ahead.”

Mike Parrott

Mike Parrott also joins AYMTM as director of communication and motivation.

Previous roles include head of business development at Brainstorm and group account director at Grass Roots Group.

AYMTM managing director Natalie Gunson said: “We have had significant growth and client wins in the last year that has resulted in these appointments. We are very excited to welcome both Mike and Paul to the board of AYMTM. Our people are our business so it’s imperative that we continually grow and develop AYMTM’s business in order to attract such high calibre individuals.”

CHINA/AFRICA:

Libyan rebel official in China for talks

Last Modified: 21 Jun 2011 /english.aljazeera.net

Senior foreign affairs official likely to press Beijing for financial assistance during two-day visit.

A senior Libyan rebel leader has arrived in China amid intensifying efforts by Beijing to resolve the crisis in the north African country.

Mahmoud Jibril, a senior foreign affairs official in the Libyan opposition’s National Transitional Council (NTC), will meet with Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi during his two-day visit, ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters.

“China’s immediate task is to promote peace and encourage talks,” Hong said on Tuesday, adding the situation in Libya, where rebels are attempted to topple the regime of Muammar Gaddafi, “should not be left as it is anymore”.

“The Libyan crisis has lasted for four months – during this period of time, the people of Libya have suffered to the fullest extent the chaos caused by war, and infrastructure was greatly damaged,” Hong said.

“China expresses great concern in this regard.”

Pushing for ceasefire

China has taken no firm side in the war between Gaddafi’s troops and opposition forces and says its recent meetings with rival Libyan groups were only intended to encourage a ceasefire.

Beijing hosted Libya’s Foreign Minister Abdelati Obeidi earlier this month.

China was among the emerging powers that abstained in March when the UN Security Council authorised the NATO-led air strikes against Gaddafi’s forces. China could have used its veto power as a permanent member.

However, Beijing quickly condemned the expansion of the strikes, and has since urged a ceasefire it says could open the way for compromise between the government and rebels.

Around half of China’s crude oil imports last year came from the Middle East and North Africa, where Chinese companies have a big presence. Beijing mobilised navy ships and civil aircraft to help tens of thousands of Chinese workers flee Libya this year.

China’s commercial interests in Libya include oil, telecoms and rail projects.

Chinese interests

Observers say the protection of Chinese interests in Libya was likely to be on the agenda in talks with the visiting rebel official.

Only 5.68 per cent of the losses suffered by 13 Chinese state-owned companies in Libya were covered by insurance, the Global Times reported, citing other state media. The newspaper said total losses could amount to $20bn.

The West has also thrown its diplomatic and financial support behind the NTC, which has been recognised by about a dozen countries including Britain, France and the United States.

Jibril could also ask senior Chinese officials for financial help, as the council has set a budget of around $3.5bn for the next six months.

At a conference in Abu Dhabi earlier this month, donors vowed to help the rebels with cash and supplies.

Italy promised loans and aid worth $438-584m. France meanwhile said it would release $415.9m of frozen Libyan funds for the NTC.

Diplomats said $180m had been pledged by Kuwait and $100m by Qatar.

Chinese engagement with Africa reshaping continent

MARY FITZGERALD, Foreign Affairs Correspondent/ The Irish Times /Tuesday, June 21, 2011

TO GET a sense of the historical roots of China’s current engagement with Africa, the Tazara train station in Dar es Salaam is a good place to start.

In the airy terminus building a huge map, marked in English and Mandarin, tracks the 1,800km (1,118-mile) Tazara rail line linking Tanzania and Zambia which was built with Chinese assistance in the late 1960s. Outside, traders unload boxes of Chinese-made electronics, furniture, paints and bicycles – all bound for Zambia.

It was in the Zambian capital, Lusaka, earlier this month that US secretary of state Hillary Clinton reignited the debate over China’s growing push into Africa.

“We saw that during colonial times, it is easy to come in, take out natural resources, pay off leaders and leave . . . And when you leave, you don’t leave much behind for the people who are there. We don’t want to see a new colonialism in Africa,” she told a local TV channel.

Clinton also expressed concern that China’s foreign assistance and investment practices in Africa have not always been consistent with international norms of transparency and good governance. Beijing shrugged off the remarks, as did many in Africa.

“I don’t think this is a new colonialism,” Mozambique’s prime minister, Aires Ali, told T he Irish Times last week. “Europe and the United States are co-operating with China – why should we not co-operate with [China]? We must build the relationship so that we have a win-win situation. It is not a problem . . . I am happy with the relationship with China.”

China’s relationship with Africa last year amounted to almost $115 billion (€80 billion) in bilateral trade, making it the continent’s largest trading partner.

Chinese direct investment in Africa has increased from less than $500 million in 2003 to more than $9 billion in 2009.

Beijing’s interest in Africa is not just about access to natural resources or markets, it is also about political influence and diplomatic support.

“In today’s world, every country is strategically important,” says China’s ambassador to Malawi when asked why Beijing had courted the tiny, resource-poor southern African state. The Malawian government obliged by agreeing to cut diplomatic relations with Taiwan in 2008.

Unease over China’s expanding presence in Africa is not limited to western governments worried about losing influence. “I don’t see China as some sort of devil but I think African countries need to be careful about how they deal with the Chinese to make sure we are not exploited,” says one Mozambican aid worker.

Many are concerned that Beijing’s “no strings” approach could undermine efforts to improve governance and root out corruption. “China’s hard-nosed economic development model, with its apparent disregard for some of the core values of western societies – issues such as democracy, human rights and citizens’ participation – offers an alternative to African governments,” says Hans Zomer, director of Dóchas, an umbrella group of more than 40 Irish aid agencies and development organisations.

“The jury is out on whether this is good or bad. What is certain is that it will be a force to be reckoned with, and that its model is likely to be very popular with African governments, but likely to be strongly resented by the ordinary people in those countries.”

China’s deepening engagement with Africa is one of the most important – and powerful – dynamics shaping the continent today. As a result, it will play into the relationship Ireland has with Africa, whether through its overseas aid programme or efforts to develop stronger trade and business links with the continent’s rapidly growing economies.

On his recent visit to Tanzania, Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Eamon Gilmore, when asked about Clinton’s comments, did not mention China by name but argued no one should have a “colonial approach” to Africa.

“The approach that countries have to relations with Africa needs to be respectful of African governments and their needs and wishes,” he said.

“The competition for influence is obviously something that is at play, and that is why I think it is so important that Ireland and other European countries are involved in a positive and constructive way with African governments.”

During her visit to Malawi and Mozambique last week, Minister of State for Trade and Development Jan O’Sullivan saw many signs of China’s growing presence, from Chinese-built parliament buildings, ministries, hotels and airport terminals to shops and other Chinese-run businesses in small, rural towns.

She takes a sanguine view of this Sino-African engagement. “I don’t think this is a case of some big strong country coming in from outside taking advantage of naïve governments . . . I think African governments have become a bit more sophisticated than they would have been in the past and I think the influence of countries like Ireland has helped them to be stronger in terms of how they deal with countries like China.”

O’Sullivan played down concerns that China’s policy of “non-interference” in Africa could make it more difficult for Ireland and other donor governments to press governance issues. “I think [it is] a matter for African countries. I don’t think we can dictate to them on how they relate to other countries,” she said.

“I think we have to continue to behave like Europeans. We believe in human rights, responsibility, good governance – I’m not saying the Chinese don’t believe in at least some of those – and I think we have to maintain our values and the relations we have with African countries.”

South Africa: China Motor plans US$1bn factory

Tuesday, June 21, 2011/AutomotiveWorld.com

Taipei, Taiwan-based vehicle manufacturer China Motor Corporation (CMC) plans to set up a vehicle manufacturing plant outside Harrismith, in South Africa’s Free State province. The project entails investment of US$1bn.

According to a report carried by Business Day, this facility will create around 2,500 jobs. The plant will eventually produce 50,000upa, which will enable it to qualify for Automotive Production and Development Programme incentives.

Imran Moola, director of CMC in South Africa, said the plant’s production figures will be lower than 50,000upa to start with. The plant will produce the Ses’buyile 16-seater minibus (very similar to the Toyota Ses’fikile), and the Plutus range of single- and double-cab pick-ups.

According to Moola, while there would be a technology transfer from CMC in China, the local operation will be 100% South African. CMC expects to break ground towards the end of this year.

“We can get Chinese finance if we want, but we want SA-driven investment. We want to maintain control,” Business Day quotes Moola as saying. He added that Ernst & Young was in charge of raising the capital from different institutions, and that US$1bn was the minimum investment.

At present, CMC imports its vehicles and distributes through 40 dealerships.

Chinese bid for Metorex expected

www.miningreview.com/21062011

Johannesburg, South Africa — MININGREVIEW.COM — 21 June 2011 – While South African-based and JSE-listed Metorex Limited ‒ the mid-tier mining group which is the target of a US$1.1 billion takeover bid from Brazil’s Vale SA ‒ has said that there is no certainty of an unsolicited approach from another party, market sources indicate that a serious Chinese contender has finally decided to make a bid for Metorex.

“There is currently no certainty that Metorex will receive a firm intention to make an offer from the alternate party,” Metorex said in a statement.

Miningmx reports, however, that market sources indicate that a serious Chinese contender has finally decided to make a bid for Metorex, in opposition to Vale’s 735c a share cash offer for the company.

There has been speculation in the market over such a development since the Vale bid was announced in mid-April, with Jinchuan Mining singled out as the most likely bidder. Inexplicably, nothing had happened until this week.

Jinchuan is the company which now controls Wesizwe Platinum after heading up a Chinese consortium which paid R6.6bn for 51% of Wesizwe.

Other companies operating in the DRC include First Quantum Minerals Limited and Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation.

First Quantum is not involved in the offer for Metorex, company president Clive Newall said in an e-mailed response to queries. “Definitely not us.” And ENRC spokeswoman Charlotte Kirkham would not comment.

A Vale official in Rio de Janeiro who declined to be identified citing corporate policy, said the company would also not comment.

INDIA/AFRICA:

Sproxil launches its operations in India

www.business-standard.com/ June 21, 2011

Announcement / Corporate

Sproxil’s Solution Will Help Ensure Authenticity of Pharmaceutical Products

Sproxil Inc., a world-class brand protection company today announced the launch of its operations in India by Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Ashifi Gogo. Sproxil’s focus is to check the drug counterfeit market through its brand protection product, Mobile Product Authentication™ (MPA™). It enables consumers to verify the authenticity of a pharmaceutical product by sending the unique code on the drug as a free text message to the manufacturers, in real time.

Sproxil established the first national mobile-based anti-counterfeit service in Africa and has already sold millions of anti-counterfeit labels. They provide services to several leading global pharmaceutical companies. Similarly in India the company plans to support Indian manufactures with their counterfeiting concerns, to help maintain India’s global brand image as the manufacturing giant for countries that need affordable medication.

“India has one of the largest pharmaceutical markets in the world but is plagued by counterfeit medicines made elsewhere that tarnish brand India. Our services enable Indian companies to reduce the presence of counterfeit medicines by connecting companies directly to their consumers in a scalable manner, using mobile phones. Our Mobile Product Authentication™ (MPA™) architecture combines secure interlocking technologies and makes counterfeiting unprofitable”, said Dr. Ashifi Gogo, Chief Executive Officer, Sproxil Inc. He also added, “India forms an integral part of Sproxil’s global strategy, and we are launching in two cities, Bangalore and Mumbai, as more than 80% of the Indian pharmaceutical manufacturers are based in the West and the South of India”.

With a mobile subscriber base crossing 812 million in India, and growing exponentially, Sproxil’s solution will have a far reaching impact. Sproxil recently received 1.8 million USD from Acumen Fund, a non-profit global venture fund, to expand its business in India and Eastern African countries such as Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.

India ships drugs to over 150 countries worldwide, and Indian manufacturers are key suppliers of drugs to emerging markets where counterfeiting is often an issue. Brand and product pirates in Indian markets pose a significant risk to legitimate Indian manufacturers, leading to brand degradation, decrease in sales and consumer purchasing apprehension. Through Sproxil’s offerings, companies can protect consumers from harmful products, starting with pharmaceuticals but expanding to any high-value item where the consumers don’t want to get cheated at purchase.

About Sproxil

Sproxil provides world-class brand protection for emerging markets through software and services that work anywhere there are mobile phones. Delivering automatic protection, simple labels and robust back-end analytics with its Mobile Product Authentication™ (MPA™) solution, Sproxil offers a comprehensive anti-counterfeiting strategy for cash-based societies, one that enables consumers to text message an item-unique code for a rapid response that confirms a brand’s genuineness. Simple, easy to use and with no consumer capital investment, the Acumen Fund-backed solution – provisioned on three continents – offers the world’s only patented, consumer SMS verification service. Our solution also helps companies connect directly to their consumers through customized text message responses and ads that specifically target those demographics with known buying behavior.

WHO urges India to address medical needs of gay men, transgenders

PTI/ www.thehindu.com/ juin 21, 2011

Geneva,

India must make an “extra effort” in addressing the medical needs of men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender people affected by HIV and sexually-transmitted infections, a top WHO official said on Tuesday.

“Though India has addressed the HIV problem among MSM and transgender people, it has to make an extra effort in scaling up treatment and prevention services for HIV and sexually transmitted infections,” Dr. Gottfried Hirnschall, Director of HIV Department in World Health Organisation, told PTI.

In India, around 1.5 million transgender people and around 30.5 million MSM are vulnerable to the HIV and sexually-transmitted infections.

“In Asia, the odds of MSM being infected with HIV are 18.7 times higher than in the general population and the HIV prevalence ranges from 0 per cent to 40 per cent,” he said.

The WHO on Tuesday issued, for the first time, new public health recommendations to sensitise governments and health pressure groups in the developing world about the need to provide adequate medical treatment and prevention services to MSM and transgender people affected by HIV and sexually transmitted infections.

The guidelines call on governments to develop anti-discrimination laws and measures and provide more inclusive services for MSM and transgender people.

Health pressure groups must provide HIV testing and counselling followed by treatment for patients with CD4 count 350 or below.

Dr. Hirnschall said “criminalisation, and legal policy barriers play a key role in the vulnerability of MSM and transgender people to HIV.”

In many countries of Asia, transgender people lack legal recognition. Consequently, people affected by HIV among these two communities often face cultural stigma in seeking anti-retroviral treatment due to criminal sanctions.

“From a health systems’ perspective, MSM and transgender people may delay or avoid seeking health, STI or HIV-related information, care and services as a result of perceived homophobia, transphobia, ignorance and insensitivity,” according to WHO recommendations.

“The WHO guidelines both present evidence for effective prevention interventions for the populations and provide recommendations to help ensure that pervasive barriers like stigma and criminalization no longer stand in the way of life-saving services,” said George Ayala, executive director of the Global Forum MSM & HIV.

Unlike other countries in Asia and Africa, India has addressed the HIV among MSM and transgender communities, particularly in the North East and Western region.

Though around 2.5 million people with HIV/AIDS need second-line ARVs, the overall progress in access and services is impressive, said health analysts.

Indian national gets death sentence in Tanzania

PTI / timesofindia.indiatimes.com/ Jun 21, 2011,

ABUJA: An Indian national has been sentenced to death by a court in Tanzania for murdering a Tanzanian, media reports said on Tuesday.

Vinoth Nadhesan accused of killing a man and stuffing his body parts in the boot of a car last year in Dar es Salaam, was sentenced to death after being found guilty of the murder, Tanzanian newspaper ‘Daily News’ reported.

Nadhesan was accused of killing Abdulbasid Abdallah on February 6, 2009 by using a knife and an arrow, before hiding his parts in a bag and stuffed them in the boot of a car.

In a ruling yesterday, Judge Faudhi Twaibu said the High Court was satisfied by the evidence produced by the prosecution against the accused and that the act was murder and not manslaughter.

“The accused is liable for murder charges and the punishment for the offence is hanging until death. If the accused is not satisfied with my decision he can appeal,” said the judge.

According to the charge sheet, money was the source of the fight, Abdallah reportedly lent $20,000 to the accused with an agreement to pay him after one year.

On his defence the accused had told the court that the deceased was the one who started the fight

by beating him with a stick and that he had stabbed him in self defence.

BRAZIL/AFRICA:

EN BREF, CE 21 Juin 2011 … AGNEWS/DAM,NY, 21/06/2011